Research and ideas for educators who take learning seriously

TL;DR: Most platform comparisons focus on discussion features. The real differentiators are fee stacks, tax compliance, and course delivery depth. Skool offers strong gamification and Circle has polished discussion layouts, but both leave international tax filing to the creator across most markets. Our Teachable Payments handles automated tax remittance across 45+ countries, and our Builder plan ($69/month on annual billing) bundles course delivery tools and 0% platform fees in a single subscription. If you sell structured courses to an international audience, the fee math and tax exposure matter more than leaderboard badges.

A thriving discussion board is only as valuable as the business infrastructure sitting underneath it. Creators who pick a community platform based on engagement features alone often discover, after their first international sale, that they owe VAT or sales tax to authorities in various countries, and their platform left that entirely to them. This guide compares the top online community platforms on the metrics that actually determine take-home pay and operational risk: fee stacks, tax compliance, course delivery depth, and mobile delivery.

Must-have tools for building a paid community

Running a paid community is running a business. Before evaluating discussion layouts and gamification, confirm a platform covers three operational requirements:

1. Built-in checkout that handles recurring and one-time payments without a third-party gateway
2. Structured content delivery that keeps members progressing through your material
3. Moderation tools that let you manage student access without writing code

Creators who skip this audit typically discover the gaps during a live launch, when a broken checkout or missing payment tool costs them revenue that cannot be recovered. The launch strategy resources on our blog cover how to pressure-test your full workflow before a live window opens.

How to boost active community participation

Engagement inside a paid community does not happen by itself. The platforms that drive the highest daily active participation combine three mechanics: structured prompts that give members a reason to post, member directories so participants can find peers with shared goals, and gamification layers such as points, leaderboards, and badges that reward consistent contribution.

The trade-off is that gamification without structured content creates engagement that peaks and then plateaus. For creators building course-based student engagement, the combination of discussion spaces and drip-released lesson content produces more sustained retention than either tool alone.

How to collect payments from students

You need built-in checkout support for one-time purchases and recurring memberships, multi-currency acceptance, and subscription management tools that allow students to pause or cancel without manual intervention on your end.

A short enrollment window to a warm email list is a high-stakes event, and downtime or a broken upsell during that window is not recoverable. Reviewing a platform's incident history and uptime documentation before committing is a useful due diligence step.

Managing your course content delivery

A community without a learning path is a chat room. Creators who combine structured courses with discussion spaces see meaningfully higher completion rates because students have clear milestones to work toward and a community to discuss them in. The features that separate deep course delivery from basic video hosting include drip content scheduling, progress tracking at the individual student level, compliance settings like minimum watch-time enforcement, and quizzes with graded assessments.

These features also affect how students perceive the value of what they bought. For creators building toward credentialed programs, delivery depth matters as much as the content itself.

Platform pricing and net margin impact

Headline subscription prices are the sticker price. The receipt has more lines. Every platform stacks a subscription fee, a platform transaction fee on every sale, and a payment processing fee charged by the underlying card processor. International transactions can add a currency conversion fee on top.

Think of the platform transaction fee like rent versus buying: percentage-based fees on lower-tier plans compound as revenue grows. The revenue and pricing strategy resources on our site cover how to model this across different product structures.

Best community software for paid creator growth

The six platforms below represent the realistic shortlist for creators building monetized communities in 2026. Each has a distinct strength, and each has structural limitations that matter at different revenue levels.

Evaluating Skool for paid communities

Skool positions itself around community-first design: the member feed is the product, and gamification, including points, leaderboards, and level-ups for participation, drives daily logins. Skool's Pro plan runs $99/month on monthly billing ($82/month effective on annual billing) and charges 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction up to $900, rising to 3.9% + $0.30 above that.

On tax compliance, Skool collects and remits VAT for EU buyers as a qualifying marketplace under VAT regulations. That coverage does not extend to the 45+ countries that Teachable Payments covers, so creators with students in Australia, Canada, India, or across the US may remain personally responsible for those tax obligations.

On course delivery, Skool reportedly lacks quizzes and completion certificates. Skool reportedly includes a drip feature that unlocks content after a set number of days from when a member joins. If your paid community sells certification-based programs or needs graded assessments, Skool may require a separate platform to handle that delivery, which adds cost and integration fragility.

Circle platform pricing and fees

Circle offers polished discussion spaces with custom branding, organized spaces, and solid moderation tools. Circle's Professional plan runs $89/month on annual billing with a 2% transaction fee, and Business runs $199/month annual with a 1% fee, both stacking on top of standard Stripe and PayPal processing fees.

Circle's course builder reportedly includes basic quiz functionality with minimum passing grades and drip content scheduling across structured and time-based release options. It also reportedly supports basic lesson-order enforcement. What Circle reportedly lacks are graded open-ended assessments, rubric-based scoring, and completion certificates at the level we provide. Circle does not automate international tax remittance, so creators handling international sales are personally responsible for calculating and remitting VAT, GST, and applicable sales taxes. Our Teachable Payments automates that across 45+ countries, and our Builder plan includes the certificate issuance and compliance settings that Circle reportedly cannot match at its mid-tier pricing.

Fully branded iOS and Android mobile apps on Circle require Circle Plus, which carries custom pricing. We include native apps on all plans.

Mighty Networks for paid communities

Mighty Networks combines community, courses, and live events under one roof. According to third-party sources, its plan structure reportedly includes Launch ($79/month), Scale ($179/month), and Mighty Pro (custom pricing) tiers. Platform transaction fees reportedly run 2% on Launch, 1% on Scale, and 0.5% on Mighty Pro.

Mighty Networks supports drip content scheduling and course modules, but does not issue native completion certificates, requiring a third-party tool connected via Zapier to generate them. Like Circle, Mighty Networks reportedly does not automate international tax remittance, leaving VAT and GST obligations as a manual responsibility that Teachable Payments removes. Custom-branded iOS and Android apps require Mighty Pro, putting them out of range for most independent creators, while we include native apps on all plans without an enterprise subscription.

Why Discord and Slack fail for paid communities

Discord costs nothing to start, which makes it an attractive early option. The operational reality for paid communities is less convenient. Discord offers native Server Subscriptions where members pay a monthly fee directly for exclusive channels and perks, with Discord taking a 10% cut of subscription revenue. What Discord reportedly cannot do is gate content by lesson completion, track learner progress, deliver drip-scheduled course content, or automate international tax remittance. Paywalled course delivery still requires third-party tools, and each additional integration is a failure point during a live launch.

Slack's free plan limits message history to 90 days of searchable content, which becomes a real problem for a paid community designed as a searchable knowledge base. Paid Slack plans run $7.25 to $15 per user per month on annual billing, and those per-seat costs scale against you as your community grows. Neither Discord nor Slack reportedly includes built-in course delivery, checkout capability, or automated tax compliance. Both require external subscription management software and leave you personally responsible for international VAT and GST remittance that Teachable Payments automates across 45+ countries.

Teachable for course-heavy creators

Our course delivery infrastructure covers graded assessments, native completion certificates, drip content scheduling, and watch-time enforcement. No other platform in this comparison provides all four natively. Teachable Payments automatically calculates and remits VAT and GST across 45+ countries, removing the creator from the tax filing loop entirely, at a geographic breadth no other platform here matches. The Builder plan ($69/month on annual billing) carries a 0% platform transaction fee, native iOS and Android apps, affiliate tools, and email integrations. BackOffice, an optional add-on carrying its own 2% to 2.8% fee, automates affiliate payouts and tax forms so you don't have to handle disbursement manually.

"Easy to create courses and sell. The platform is so good, and mainly, the designs of the landing page are stunning... I also loved the community they built." - Raghu V. on G2

Direct platform comparison for paid communities

The table below covers the full cost stack across each platform for a creator on an entry-level paid plan, including subscription, platform transaction fees, and payment processing ranges.

Teachable processing: 2.9% + $0.30 for US cards, 3.9% + $0.30 for international cards. Non-USD transactions incur an additional 0.95% Stripe currency conversion fee where currency conversion is required.

Real take-home pay after all fees

The Starter plan's 7.5% platform transaction fee costs more than upgrading to Builder once monthly revenue passes $533 on annual billing, or approximately $667 on monthly billing. Creators should model their expected monthly revenue against both plan options to determine which tier offers better economics at their revenue level.

At higher revenue levels, the math becomes more stark. Percentage-based platform fees on lower-tier plans can compound significantly, while plans with zero platform fees eliminate that variable cost entirely. Non-USD creators should also model currency conversion fees against expected international transaction volume before comparing net take-home across platforms. For a deeper breakdown of how these fees interact with different product structures, the revenue and pricing section of our blog covers the modeling frameworks.

Key platform differences for creators

The three structural differences that determine long-term operational risk are:

1. Tax compliance: Our Teachable Payments covers 45+ countries for automated VAT and GST remittance. Skool reportedly remits EU VAT as a qualifying marketplace but does not cover the broader country set. Circle and Mighty Networks reportedly leave tax remittance to the creator entirely.
2. Native mobile apps: We include iOS and Android apps on all plans at no additional cost. Circle's branded apps reportedly require Circle Plus at custom pricing. Mighty Networks' custom apps reportedly require Mighty Pro at custom pricing. Skool reportedly includes mobile apps on its plans.
3. Student data export: We let creators export student data and purchase history, which matters when a platform restructures its pricing.

How platforms handle course delivery

The table shows that drip content scheduling is available across most platforms, but the features that separate us are quizzes with graded assessments, native completion certificates, and watch-time enforcement. For creators building certification-based programs, these features are not optional additions. They are the product.

Choosing a dedicated community tool for your members

Your primary interaction mode determines which platform makes the most sense operationally. If your members primarily engage through live events and real-time video sessions, dedicated event integration is a gap on Teachable, but creators who choose a community-only platform for that feature remain personally responsible for VAT and GST filing across the EU, UK, Australia, and Canada, where none of those platforms automate remittance.

If your members primarily work through asynchronous video content and self-paced lessons, our course delivery infrastructure gives you deeper student management, graded assessments, native certificates, and Teachable Payments handling tax remittance automatically across 45+ countries. If long-form threaded discussion is the main mode, community-only platforms offer more layout customization for that format, though adding structured courses or certificates later means either working around a platform that lacks them natively or migrating your community to one that does, which is disruptive to members and administratively expensive.

Building on a platform that handles structured course delivery from day one reduces migration risk, provided community discussion depth is not the primary product you are selling.

Best platforms for discussion groups

Community-only platforms offer threaded, channel-based discussions with search and moderation tools, along with more layout customization or event integration than a course-first platform typically provides.

These platforms require creators to manage international tax compliance manually, which becomes a material risk as international sales grow. Our Teachable Payments removes that administrative burden across 45+ countries, and creators whose members expect a community-first experience should weigh that tax and course-delivery advantage directly against the discussion depth and layout customization that Circle and Mighty Networks offer.

Discussion-first creators who choose Circle or Mighty Networks also inherit the course-delivery gap: no native completion certificates, no graded assessments, and no compliance settings, which becomes a structural problem the moment a student asks for a credential or a program needs watch-time enforcement.

Running profitable low-ticket memberships

Low-ticket memberships at $10 to $20/month are highly sensitive to transaction fees. Processing fees and platform transaction fees can represent a significant percentage of revenue per member. When a platform adds a percentage-based transaction fee on top of processing, those margin losses compound fast. Our Builder plan eliminates the platform transaction fee entirely at $69/month annual, so the only per-sale cost is payment processing.

Boost launch revenue with community

A free or low-ticket community tier works as a lead magnet for higher-ticket structured courses. Creators who offer free community access to warm their audience before a course launch consistently see higher conversion rates from engaged community members than from cold email lists. Our audience-building resources detail how to structure this funnel across different audience sizes.

When your membership needs full course delivery

Three clear triggers indicate that a community-only platform is no longer the right fit:

1. International tax exposure: You have students in the EU, UK, Australia, or Canada and your platform does not remit VAT or GST automatically
2. Certificate demand: Students are asking for credentials your platform cannot issue natively
3. Tool fragmentation: Students access courses on one platform and community on another, and you're managing two support queues

Sending a paying community member to a separate URL to access the course they paid for is friction. Friction reduces completion rates and drives refund requests. Our case studies show how creators structure combined product tiers without splitting the student experience across tools.

Managing community and course access

When course content and community discussions live on separate platforms, students deal with two login systems, two notification streams, and two places to look for help. Each additional tool is a potential failure point, and the creator absorbs the support load when they break. Disconnected tools also make it impossible to tie community access to course completion milestones, which is one of the most effective retention mechanics available to course creators.

Tools for scheduled cohort learning

Our drip content lets you release lessons on a schedule that syncs with community discussion topics. For example, a creator running a six-week cohort can unlock lesson three on Monday and progress students to lesson four the following week, all without manual intervention. For cohort-based teaching design, this sync between content release and discussion timing is the structural mechanic that drives higher completion rates.

Scaling revenue via product tiers

The most durable revenue architecture for creators combines three tiers: a free or low-ticket community entry point, a structured paid course as the core product, and a high-ticket coaching or mastermind tier for students who want direct access. We support all three through free enrollments, paid course checkouts, and native coaching features. Each tier feeds the next, and Builder's 0% platform fees protect margins across all three revenue streams.

If you're modeling platform costs before committing to a plan, run the full fee stack, subscription, transaction fee, and processing, against your expected monthly revenue. Compare plans and fees on our pricing page, or start a 7-day free trial and build your first course before paying anything.

FAQs

What should you look for when evaluating platforms for paid groups?

Prioritize payment processing, tax compliance, and course delivery depth before evaluating discussion features. We automate VAT and GST remittance across 45+ countries and include quizzes, certificates, and compliance settings, while Circle and Mighty Networks reportedly leave international tax filing to the creator and lack native completion certificates.

Does managing courses and community in one hub improve student outcomes?

Yes, students who access courses and discussions through a single login complete more lessons and submit fewer support tickets than students navigating between disconnected tools. Single-hub management also allows milestone-based community unlocks, where completing a course module automatically opens a new discussion channel.

How do you calculate your true platform take-home on each plan?

Start with your monthly revenue, subtract the platform transaction fee (percentage varies by plan and platform), then subtract payment processing fees (typically 2.9-3.9% + $0.30 depending on card origin, plus potentially a 0.95% Stripe currency conversion fee for non-USD transactions), and finally subtract the monthly subscription. The economics shift depending on your revenue level and the specific fee structures of each plan tier.

How quickly can you go from signup to first sale on Teachable?

KYC verification is required before payouts are enabled, and processing time varies, so connecting your payout account early in your setup is worth doing before your launch window opens. Most creators build their first course in the no-code editor within a few sessions. The 7-day free trial gives you enough time to build a full course, connect your payout account, and test checkout before committing to a paid plan.

Does Skool handle VAT and sales tax?

Skool remits VAT for EU buyers, acting as a qualifying marketplace under EU VAT regulations, per Skool's own VAT documentation. Skool does not automate tax remittance across the broader set of countries covered by Teachable Payments, so creators with significant sales outside the EU remain personally responsible for calculating and filing those tax obligations.

What is the transaction fee on Teachable's Builder plan?

Our Builder plan charges a 0% platform transaction fee. Standard credit card processing fees apply to US and international card transactions, with a separate Stripe currency conversion fee on non-USD transactions where currency conversion is required.

Key terms glossary

Teachable Payments: The native payment gateway that automatically calculates, collects, and remits sales tax, VAT, and GST across 45+ countries, removing the creator from the tax filing loop entirely.

Platform fee: The percentage-based transaction fee charged by a platform on each sale, sitting on top of standard credit card processing fees and separate from the monthly subscription cost.

Merchant of Record: A legal entity authorized to process payments and assume liability for financial transactions, including tax compliance and remittance to the relevant tax authority on behalf of the seller.

Drip content: A content delivery method where course lessons unlock on a schedule or after specific conditions are met, rather than all at once on enrollment.

Break-even point: The monthly revenue level at which the transaction fees on a lower-cost plan equal the subscription cost difference of the next plan up, making the upgrade economically rational.

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TL;DR: Moving your course from Udemy to your own platform is the most direct way to gain revenue control and own your student data without the technical overhead of self-hosting. Udemy takes 63% of marketplace sales and doesn't share student email addresses, per Udemy's own instructor revenue-share terms. On our Builder plan at $69/month (annual billing), you keep 100% of revenue after standard processing fees, and Teachable Payments automatically remits VAT and GST across 45+ countries. This guide is for creators who have already validated a course on Udemy and are ready to build an independent business around it, not for creators who are still testing whether their idea sells. It covers content backup, email list capture, platform setup, and launch strategy.

When Udemy runs a site-wide sale, your $200 course can be discounted to as low as $9.99, Udemy's own stated Deals Program price floor. You spent months building that course, recording lectures, designing slides, and answering student questions. Now you're realizing you don't own your student list, you can't email your buyers directly, and you're giving 63% of your revenue to a marketplace that controls your pricing. That revenue split and the email restriction are both covered in Udemy's instructor terms.

Udemy is a great place to validate a course idea. It's a terrible place to build a business. Migrating to your own platform is a structured process that pays for itself almost immediately once you run the actual fee math.

Why independent creators leave Udemy behind

The core problem with Udemy isn't the platform's quality. It's the business model. When you host on Udemy, you're renting an audience from a marketplace that sets your prices, hides your student data, and takes the majority of every sale.

Why you need direct revenue control

On organic marketplace sales, Udemy takes 63% of the transaction, leaving you with 37%. Instructor payouts haven't kept pace with Udemy's revenue growth. Payouts as a share of Udemy's revenue fell from roughly 40% in 2019 to roughly 31% in 2022, according to SellCoursesOnline's Udemy earnings study.

The subscription model is worse. Udemy's subscription revenue share has been cut three times in three years: 25% to 20% in January 2024, to 17.5% in January 2025, and to 15% in January 2026.

On your own platform, you set the price. You can charge $200, $500, or $2,000 for the same course. You control the discounting, not a marketplace algorithm that can discount your course to Udemy's stated floor of $9.99 during every site-wide sale.

Building assets you actually control

Your email list is the one business asset that doesn't change when a platform restructures its pricing. On Udemy, you don't have that asset. While you can export student names and enrollment data as CSV, you cannot access student email addresses. The platform treats those students as Udemy's customers, not yours.

This matters more than the revenue share. If Udemy changes its algorithm, its pricing, or its policies tomorrow, you have no way to contact your students directly. You can't tell them about a new course, a coaching offer, or a migration to your own site. You're building on rented land.

Break free from Udemy pricing

Udemy caps your pricing at $200 for most courses. And unless you opt out of the Deals Program, which is on by default when you register as a premium instructor, Udemy's pricing algorithm can discount your course automatically without your day-to-day approval. The platform's educational announcements rules also prohibit you from linking to paid content off Udemy or sites that request money or personal information from students.

On your own platform, you can offer order bumps, one-click upsells, abandoned cart recovery, and coupon codes. We include these checkout tools on every plan. You can also offer subscriptions and memberships, which smooth out the launch-or-nothing income pattern that plagues marketplace sellers.

Get ready to move your course: A checklist

Before you touch a single file, you need a preparation plan. Rushing the migration means losing content, missing students, or launching to silence.

Download your Udemy course files

Udemy does not package your course for bulk download. Each lecture video must be downloaded individually, as there is no option to download a course in its entirety from the Curriculum page.

Manual asset backup steps:

1. Locate original video files: Check your computer's video folders, external drives, and cloud storage first. These are your highest-quality source files.
2. Download from Udemy if needed: Preview course content through the course player and click the gear icon at the bottom right to access course settings for individual downloads.
3. Organize by module: Create a folder structure that mirrors your course curriculum, with separate folders for each section and lecture.
4. Save supplementary resources: Download any PDFs, worksheets, slide decks, or resource files you uploaded to Udemy.
5. Export your student list CSV: While you can't get emails, you can export student names, enrollment dates, and progress data as a CSV for your records.

Understand what you can and can't take

Here's the hard truth: you cannot export student email addresses from Udemy. You can export names, enrollment dates, progress, and last visited dates, but email addresses are not included.

You also can't take Udemy's marketplace ranking. What you can take is your content, your expertise, your brand, and your course reviews and ratings, which you can export via CSV.

Build your email list first

Since you can't export student emails, you need to capture them before you leave. The most effective strategy is to add a lead magnet to your Udemy course that directs students to free educational content on your own site. Udemy's educational announcements policy prohibits linking to sites that request money or personal information, so any email capture must happen after students voluntarily navigate to your site for the free resource.

Email capture strategies while still on Udemy:

• Add a bonus lecture that offers a free resource (checklist, template, or mini-course) hosted on your own website.
• Include a link in your course description to free educational content on your own website.
• Use Udemy's educational announcements to share valuable educational content that links to your site.
• Create a free companion resource on your own site that complements the Udemy course, where students can then discover ways to stay connected with your work. The goal is to build visibility for your own platform among your Udemy students before you migrate. Students who visit your site for free resources are more likely to follow you to your independent platform.

Evaluate top Udemy alternatives

Before you commit to a platform, understand your options. Here's the decision matrix we use when advising creators on where to move.

Our Builder plan at $69/month (annual billing) includes 0% platform fees and affiliate tools, and every plan, including Starter, comes with native iOS and Android apps. Kajabi's Basic plan starts at $143/month (annual billing), more than double our Builder price for a comparable feature set, though Kajabi does include a native email funnel and CRM that we connect to through Builder-tier integrations instead. Thinkific charges $199/month for its branded mobile app as a separate add-on, while we include iOS and Android apps on all plans.

"Since I moved them to Teachable, my sign ups have tripled and my cancellations have gone down to almost nothing." - Stephanie L. on G2

Migrating your course from Udemy: A simple guide

Once you've backed up your content and started capturing emails, it's time to set up your independent course hub. Here's the step-by-step process on our platform.

1. Launch your independent course hub

Sign up for a 7-day free trial and create your school. The setup takes minutes, not days. You'll name your school, choose a subdomain, and land in the dashboard. No code, no payment gateway configuration, no Zapier chains. Our no-code builder means you can go from signup to a live, purchasable course without touching a single line of code.

2. Upload and organize your course content

Our drag-and-drop course builder lets you bulk upload video files and organize them into sections. This resolves the pain point of manual page-by-page creation that plagues self-hosted setups.

The builder supports video, audio, text, quizzes, and drip content. You can reorder modules, add completion requirements, and enforce minimum watch-time. This course-delivery depth goes further than Kajabi at the same price point, with gradebook, compliance settings, and per-student progress tracking built in.

3. Maximize revenue with flexible pricing

On our platform, you set the price. You can offer one-time purchases, payment plans, and subscriptions. You can create multiple pricing tiers for the same course, offer order bumps at checkout, and set up one-click upsells. This membership setup tutorial shows how to build subscription-based revenue on your own platform.

4. Design your high-converting sales page

Our page editor lets you build a sales page with testimonials, FAQs, and clear call-to-action buttons. You can customize the layout, add video embeds, and connect your custom domain. The page editor is no-code, so you can launch a professional sales page quickly. For a complete walkthrough, this full setup guide covers the entire setup process.

5. Set up your custom domain

Connecting a custom domain establishes brand authority and professionalism. Instead of sending students to a Udemy URL, you send them to your own branded site. This is a small step that makes a big difference in how students perceive your course.

6. Ensure smooth student purchases

Checkout reliability matters more than any other feature during a launch window. A broken checkout during a 48-hour promotion means lost revenue and frustrated students. Our built-in checkout handles transactions securely, with order bumps, one-click upsells, abandoned cart recovery, and coupon codes available on paid plans.

How to migrate your existing student list

This is the hardest part of the migration, and it's where most creators lose students. Here's how to handle it.

Can you export your Udemy student list?

No. Udemy does not provide student email addresses to instructors. You can export names, enrollment dates, and progress data, but not contact information. This is why building visibility for your own platform before you leave is critical.

How to share your new course link

Udemy's educational announcements rules prohibit linking to paid content off Udemy or sites that request money or personal information. The safest approach is to use educational announcements to share valuable free content that happens to live on your own site, where students can then discover your paid offerings.

Strategies for discounting your migration

Offer your existing Udemy students an exclusive migration discount. On our platform, you can create coupon codes that give your Udemy students a special price on your independent course. This incentivizes them to move with you and gives you their email address in the process. A significant discount can net you more revenue than Udemy's 37% share on organic sales. This student enrollment tutorial shows how to add students to your new school.

The real cost of selling courses: Udemy vs. you

Let's run the actual fee math. This is where the migration decision becomes obvious.

The real cost of selling on Udemy

On organic marketplace sales, Udemy takes 63% of the transaction. On instructor coupon sales, Udemy takes 3%, but you're driving all the traffic yourself. On subscription sales, Udemy takes 85%, leaving you with 15%.

The average revenue per course on Udemy is already below $100, according to Class Central's analysis of Udemy's financials, which demonstrates the financial pressure driving migrations. If you're earning $1,000/month on Udemy organic sales, you're keeping $370. That's the reality of the marketplace model.

Our pricing and transaction fees

Our pricing is straightforward. The Starter plan costs $29/month on annual billing with a 7.5% transaction fee. The Builder plan costs $69/month on annual billing with 0% platform fees. The Growth plan costs $139/month on annual billing with 0% platform fees and more products and students. Full details are in our plan documentation.

Payment processing fees apply on every plan. US card processing via Teachable Payments is 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction. International card payments incur 3.9% + $0.30. Non-USD transactions processed through Stripe where currency conversion is required incur a 0.95% currency conversion fee, as detailed in our 2025 pricing update.

Calculating your true take-home pay

Here's the comparison at different monthly revenue levels, assuming US card processing at 2.9% + $0.30.

The break-even point between Starter and Builder is approximately $533/month in course revenue on annual billing. At that point, the Starter plan's 7.5% transaction fee equals the $40/month price gap between the two plans. Any creator earning above that threshold pays more in fees on Starter than they would on Builder.

Proven tactics for selling courses independently

The biggest fear when leaving Udemy is launching to silence. Without marketplace traffic, will anyone buy? Here's how to build demand before you launch.

Building organic reach before you launch

Your email list and social following are the business's core assets. Solo Educators on our platform lean on Instagram (41%) and YouTube (25%) as primary channels. Start publishing free content on these channels before you launch your independent course. A YouTube video that teaches a small piece of your course content can drive signups to your email list, which becomes your launch audience. For more strategies, check out our audience building resources.

How to migrate your email list safely

Once you've captured emails from your Udemy students, import them into an email marketing tool. We connect with dedicated email platforms through Builder-tier integrations, so you can use your preferred tool for advanced automation. Send a warm-up sequence that introduces your new platform, explains the benefits, and offers the migration discount.

Set up your own evergreen funnel

An evergreen funnel captures leads and converts them to sales automatically. On our platform, you can offer a free preview or mini-course that captures email addresses, then automatically upsell students to your paid course. This creates a revenue stream that runs without your active involvement, which is the opposite of Udemy's launch-dependent model. For a step-by-step approach, see our launch strategy guides.

How affiliates expand your course reach

Our built-in affiliate tools, available on the Builder tier, let you recruit partners who sell your course for a commission. With BackOffice enabled on Teachable Payments, an optional add-on at 2% to 2.8%, affiliate payouts and tax forms are handled automatically. This is how you replace Udemy's marketplace traffic with a network of partners who have their own audiences. For more on growing your business, see our business growth resources.

Managing your first 90 days as a solo creator

The first 90 days after migration are critical. Here's what to expect and how to handle it.

Timeline to your first platform sale

Days 1-30: Set up your school on our platform, upload your course, and send your first email to your migrated list. Expect slow sales as your audience adjusts to the new platform.

Days 31-60: Launch your evergreen funnel and start publishing organic content. Your first sales should come from your email list and social channels.

Days 61-90: Refine your sales page, test different pricing, and recruit your first affiliates. By day 90, you should have a clear picture of your conversion rates and revenue trajectory. For real-world examples, see our success stories.

Driving enrollments on your own platform

Run limited-time promotions to create urgency. Offer order bumps at checkout to increase average order value. Use local payment methods and adaptive pricing to convert international students. We accept student payments in 130+ currencies, so your global audience can pay in their own currency with familiar payment methods. For pricing strategies, see our revenue and pricing resources.

When to keep your Udemy course live

You don't have to delete your Udemy course immediately. Many creators keep a simplified, lower-priced version on Udemy as a lead generation tool that funnels advanced students to their independent school on our platform. Udemy offers instructors the choice to opt out of their Deals Program and exercise full control over pricing, or participate in their data-driven pricing strategy. The key is to make your independent course the premium offering and your Udemy course the entry point.

Ready to make the transition to your own platform? Start a 7-day free trial and build your independent course hub today. Or run the fee math comparing your current Udemy earnings against our plans on the pricing page.

FAQs

Can I export my student email list from Udemy?

No, Udemy does not allow instructors to export student email addresses due to privacy policies. You must build an off-platform email list using opt-in incentives before closing your Udemy account.

What are your platform fees?

The Starter plan costs $29/month on annual billing with a 7.5% transaction fee. The Builder plan costs $69/month on annual billing with 0% platform fees.

Do you handle international sales tax?

Yes, Teachable Payments automatically calculates, collects, and remits VAT and GST across 45+ countries. This removes the creator from the tax filing loop entirely, as detailed in our payment documentation.

Can I keep my course on Udemy and sell it elsewhere?

Yes, non-exclusive Udemy courses can be sold elsewhere. Instructors can opt out of Udemy's Deals Program to exercise full control over pricing.

How long does it take to migrate my course from Udemy?

Migration timelines vary by course size and complexity. Effort scales with how much content, email infrastructure, and customization you're rebuilding. Book a call with our team and you'll walk away with a migration plan specific to your course, no obligation.

What happens to my Udemy course reviews and ratings?

Your Udemy reviews and ratings can be exported via CSV, but they stay associated with your Udemy presence. You can collect new testimonials from your migrated students on your new platform.

Key terms glossary

Teachable Payments: Our native payment gateway that processes student transactions and automatically handles global tax compliance across 45+ countries.

Tax Remittance: When you sell through Teachable Payments, we automatically calculate, collect, and remit sales tax, VAT, and GST across 45+ countries on your behalf. You are not responsible for filing those taxes yourself.

Revenue Share: The percentage of course sales kept by a marketplace platform like Udemy in exchange for hosting and traffic. Udemy takes 63% on organic marketplace sales.

Order Bump: A checkout feature that offers an additional product at a discounted price during the purchase flow, increasing average order value.

Evergreen Funnel: An automated marketing sequence that captures leads and converts them to sales without requiring a live launch event.

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TL;DR: When course creators start evaluating alternatives to their hosting platform, the trigger is usually one of four friction points: a transaction fee on every sale, student or product caps, lower-than-expected international payouts, or the absence of a built-in email funnel and CRM. On our Starter plan, that transaction fee sits at 7.5%. Three of those four problems are solvable without switching: upgrading to Builder at $69/month on annual billing removes the fee entirely, and outgrowing your caps just means moving up a tier, Growth raises your product limit to 50 (students are unlimited on every plan), with a Custom plan available via a sales conversation beyond that. The fourth, a built-in funnel and CRM, is not native to our platform, and most creators solve this by connecting a dedicated marketing platform through Builder-tier integrations rather than migrating their entire course business. Before migrating for any reason, know the trade-off: our Teachable Payments remits VAT and GST across 45+ countries automatically, and native iOS and Android apps are included on every plan.

If you're looking at alternatives to Teachable, you're most likely hitting one of four specific bottlenecks: transaction fees, plan caps, international payout friction, or the need for a built-in marketing funnel. The sections below diagnose each trigger honestly and show what's solvable on our platform today versus what genuinely requires different tooling.

Solving switching triggers

Most switching intent comes from a solvable problem inside our own pricing structure. Work through these four triggers before you start an export.

How our plan caps actually work

We cap published products, not enrolled students, students are unlimited on every plan. Starter allows 5 products, Builder 10, Growth 50. If you're outgrowing even Growth's 50-product cap, our pricing page invites larger sellers, those doing more than $12,000/year, to contact sales directly about a Custom plan rather than assuming you're stuck.

When Builder pays for itself

The Starter plan's 7.5% transaction fee is the most common reason creators look elsewhere, and it is also the most fixable. Above $533/month in revenue on annual billing, the 7.5% Starter fee costs more than upgrading to Builder at $69/month. Run that math for your current revenue at our pricing page before writing a cancellation email.

How we connect to your marketing stack

Our Builder plan connects to dedicated email and marketing platforms via Zapier, so most creators solve this by pairing a third-party marketing tool with our course delivery rather than replacing the whole platform. A native funnel builder and CRM are not included on our platform. The comparison section below covers what that trade-off actually looks like.

Our international tax coverage explained

Our Teachable Payments automatically calculates, collects, and remits VAT and GST across 45+ countries so you never file those taxes yourself, a compliance overhead that falls entirely to you on most competing platforms. The processing fees behind that coverage are: US card transactions run 2.9% + $0.30, international card transactions run 3.9% + $0.30, and non-USD transactions carry an additional 0.95% currency conversion fee charged by Stripe. If international processing fees are the sole pain point, model that fee stack against the cost of manual VAT compliance before switching to a platform that pushes that burden back to you.

Teachable vs the main alternatives

The table below compares entry-level pricing, platform fees, and tax handling across the six main alternatives. All pricing reflects 2026 annual billing where available.

Our full fee stack: Platform fee is 7.5% on Starter or 0% on Builder. Processing fee details are listed under the international tax coverage section above. All fees stack on each sale. Automatic VAT and GST remittance across 45+ countries is shown in the tax handling column below.

Teachable vs Kajabi

Kajabi bundles a built-in email funnel, automated sequences, landing page builder, and CRM into one subscription, at a meaningful premium over Teachable, and without our automated international tax remittance.

When Kajabi makes sense

Kajabi suits creators who want to run their entire business, course delivery, email marketing, and pipeline automation, from a single dashboard without connecting third-party tools. While Kajabi's marketing stack is its core strength, its entry price starts at $143/month on annual billing, making it 107% more expensive than our Builder plan at $69/month on annual billing. Based on Kajabi's published documentation as of writing, Kajabi does not automatically remit international VAT or GST, so that compliance overhead may fall entirely to you. Our course-specific tooling, gradebook, compliance settings, minimum watch-time enforcement, and per-student progress tracking, also goes deeper than Kajabi's at the same price point, since Kajabi's strength is the marketing stack around the course, not the course delivery itself.

The real cost of switching to Kajabi

Beyond the subscription gap, you may absorb the manual VAT compliance burden the moment you migrate. Kajabi requires you to manage tax compliance yourself, either by including tax in your product prices or by connecting a third-party tool to stay compliant with EU, Australian, and other international tax authorities. For any creator with meaningful international student volume, that is a real operational cost that does not appear on Kajabi's pricing page.

Teachable vs Thinkific

Based on Thinkific's published pricing as of writing, the platform retired its free plan in 2025 and now starts at $40/month on annual billing on the Basic plan with 0% transaction fees on all paid plans in primary markets like the US, cheaper at entry than our Builder tier but without our automated VAT and GST remittance. It has a capable no-code builder and suits creators comfortable configuring third-party integrations for email and tax.

When Thinkific is worth evaluating

If 0% platform transaction fees from your first dollar of revenue is the priority and you sell to students in markets where Thinkific charges no platform fee, Thinkific is worth evaluating. Thinkific Payments manages sales tax for US and Canadian students and calculates VAT for UK and EU buyers, though if you sell to buyers in the EU, VAT remittance is your responsibility, which means either a third-party tax tool or an accountant.

Hidden costs of moving to Thinkific

Thinkific's Trustpilot rating sits at 1.8 out of 5 across 866 reviews as of September 2026, with the majority of recent negative reviews citing billing and subscription problems, payment processing failures, and account access or data export issues. For a creator whose entire business runs through a single platform, that pattern warrants attention before committing. You also take on the cost of third-party tax tools to cover international buyers, which we handle automatically at no extra configuration.

Teachable vs Podia

Based on Podia's published pricing as of writing, the Mover plan starts at $42/month on annual billing (50 products, 100 email subscribers, 25 community spaces) with a 5% transaction fee, and the Shaker plan removes that fee at $84/month annual (150 products), both without our automated VAT and GST remittance or native mobile apps. Unlimited products require the Earthquaker plan at $150/month annual.

When Podia makes sense

Podia suits solo creators who sell a mix of digital downloads, simple courses, and memberships and want a straightforward setup without complex configuration. Our students get offline playback and progress sync through native iOS and Android apps included on every paid plan, rather than a mobile browser session, while Podia has no native iOS or Android app at any tier.

Hidden costs of migrating to Podia

Podia calculates tax for creators but leaves registration, filing, and remittance entirely to you. There also appears to be no native mobile app, so students access all content through a mobile browser rather than a dedicated app experience. For a creator with students in multiple countries, the manual VAT obligation means researching jurisdiction requirements independently or paying an accountant to manage them.

Teachable vs LearnWorlds

Based on LearnWorlds' published pricing as of writing, the Starter plan starts at $24/month on annual billing with a per-sale fee that disappears at higher tiers. It is built for interactive, certification-heavy learning experiences with SCORM support.

The one case for LearnWorlds

Our no-code setup gets a standard consumer-facing course live quickly, which is the right trade-off for individual creators selling to general audiences rather than corporate training departments. The exception is SCORM: we don't currently support SCORM content packages.

Hidden costs of moving to LearnWorlds

LearnWorlds offers Stripe Tax integration for calculating and collecting tax at checkout, but creators retain responsibility for filing returns and actual remittance to each tax authority. Setup complexity on LearnWorlds may be substantially higher than on our platform, so factor in configuration time before assuming the move is straightforward.

Teachable vs Skool

Based on Skool's published pricing as of writing, the Hobby plan starts at $9/month with a 10% + $0.30 transaction fee and the Pro plan costs $99/month with a 2.9% + $0.30 transaction fee on sales up to $900, rising to 3.9% + $0.30 on any single transaction above $900. Skool is built around community discussion forums as the primary engagement mechanic and includes native video hosting and a drag-and-drop course builder.

When Skool fits better

Skool suits creators whose core product is a community-led cohort experience where discussion threads and group interaction drive retention. The trade-off is course architecture and tax coverage: Skool's course builder appears to be simpler than our structured module system, and creators who need defined progress tracking, quizzes, and drip content will find our course player more capable for that product type. Skool's VAT handling as merchant of record is also scoped to the EU and UK, while our Teachable Payments covers 45+ countries.

What you give up moving to Skool

Checkout features are limited compared to our order bumps, one-click upsells, and abandoned cart recovery. Creators who monetize through structured self-paced courses with defined modules and certification will find Skool's setup too shallow for that model.

Teachable vs Systeme.io

Based on Systeme.io's published pricing as of writing, the platform offers a free plan and a Startup tier at $17/month with no transaction fees. It bundles basic course delivery, funnels, and email automation at a price point nothing else in this comparison matches.

When Systeme.io makes sense

For creators who haven't yet validated their first product, our 7-day trial covers the same job: build a real course, connect checkout, and test with paying students before committing to a plan. Systeme.io's free plan is a genuine no-cost option too, though it comes without our native mobile apps, detailed analytics, and advanced checkout tools like order bumps and abandoned cart recovery, which matter once that first validated course starts converting.

What Systeme.io lacks

There is no native iOS or Android app for students. The course interface is basic compared to dedicated course platforms. Systeme.io applies VAT automatically at checkout based on the buyer's country. Unlike Skool, it does not publicly describe itself as merchant of record for VAT, so confirm remittance responsibility directly with Systeme.io before relying on this for compliance planning. Our native iOS and Android apps, included on all paid plans, give students a polished offline-capable experience that Systeme.io cannot replicate at any tier.

What you lose when you switch

Our automatic VAT and GST remittance

Our Teachable Payments automatically calculates, collects, and remits sales tax, VAT, and GST across 45+ countries on every transaction. You do not register with foreign tax authorities, track filing deadlines, or calculate jurisdiction-specific rates. Among the platforms compared here, Skool also handles VAT as merchant of record, but Skool's merchant-of-record coverage stops at the EU and UK, our Teachable Payments extends automatic remittance to 45+ countries, the broadest coverage in this comparison. For creators with students in the EU, UK, or Australia, the manual alternative means paying an international tax accountant or registering for VAT in each country where your sales cross the local threshold.

Native mobile apps on every plan

We include native iOS and Android apps on every paid plan. Students get offline playback, progress sync, and a genuine app experience rather than a mobile browser session. Podia and Systeme.io have no native apps at any tier. For creators whose students commute, travel, or consume content away from a desktop, the app experience directly affects completion rates and refund requests, both of which feed back into audience trust.

The real cost of migration downtime

A platform migration is not a copy-paste operation. Platforms typically cannot transfer active student subscriptions automatically, course progress data generally does not migrate between platforms, and payment history may remain in our system. Custom domain SEO authority rebuilds slowly after a change. A poorly timed migration during a launch window can break checkout access for active students and cost you refund requests and audience trust at the same moment. Our launch strategy resources cover timing considerations for creators managing live cohorts or active payment plans.

Checklist for moving your course content safely

If you've worked through the diagnostic above and the decision is still to migrate, these steps reduce your downside.

1. Export your student list as a CSV from your admin dashboard before cancelling.
2. Download all video files, PDFs, and audio assets locally. If you uploaded videos directly to our native hosting, download them from your library first, since you may not have local backup copies. Platforms typically require fresh uploads and may not accept direct video transfers.
3. Document quiz and assessment structures in full, since quiz logic typically does not migrate between platforms and must be rebuilt manually on the new platform.
4. Screenshot current pricing, coupon codes, and affiliate commission rates for reference during setup.
5. Rebuild each lesson module from scratch using your downloaded assets, then reconnect your custom domain and allow 24 to 72 hours for DNS propagation.
6. Reconfigure all integrations from the beginning. Connection credentials for Zapier, email platforms, and affiliate tools typically do not transfer, and active student subscriptions on payment plans require direct communication with each affected student before you cancel.

Our revenue and pricing resources cover the fee modeling work worth completing before committing to a migration.

The true cost of platform migration

The decision comes down to what your business needs right now, not what a competitor's pricing page makes look attractive.

Stay with us if

• You sell to international students in the EU, UK, Australia, or Canada and do not want to register for VAT or manage remittance manually.
• Your monthly revenue is approaching or past $533, the point at which upgrading from Starter to Builder at $69/month on annual billing is cheaper than paying the 7.5% fee.
• You want native iOS and Android apps for your students without paying extra or stitching together a third-party solution.
• Your product count is approaching your current plan's cap, each tier up raises it substantially, and larger sellers (more than $12,000/year) can contact our sales team about a Custom plan.

The Builder-tier integrations handle funnel and CRM connections without a platform switch. The 7-day trial covers first-product validation with a live checkout and real payments before any plan commitment.

Run the fee math for your current revenue volume at our pricing page. The 7-day trial lets you build a live, purchasable online course and test the full checkout workflow before committing to a plan.

FAQs

What are the best alternatives to Teachable in 2026?

The strongest alternatives are Kajabi for creators who need a built-in email funnel and CRM, Thinkific for 0% platform transaction fees in primary markets, Podia for digital downloads and memberships, LearnWorlds for SCORM-compliant corporate training, Skool for community-led cohorts, and Systeme.io for budget-conscious beginners testing their first product. None of these platforms automatically remit international VAT and GST the way we do, with the possible exception of Skool, which handles VAT as merchant of record.

How does Kajabi's cost compare to ours?

Kajabi's entry plan starts at $143/month on annual billing in 2026, while our Builder plan starts at $69/month on annual billing with 0% transaction fees, making Kajabi's entry tier 107% more expensive than our Builder plan. Kajabi includes a built-in email funnel and CRM that we do not offer natively, which accounts for the price gap. Our Builder plan connects to dedicated email and marketing platforms via Zapier, and our course-specific tooling, including gradebook, compliance settings, minimum watch-time enforcement, and per-student progress tracking, goes deeper than Kajabi's at a significantly lower price point.

How do you export your student list from us?

You can export your student list as a CSV file directly from your admin dashboard before cancelling your subscription. You can also export transaction data from the Transactions section by clicking "Export CSV" in the upper right corner. Active payment subscriptions and student course progress typically must be rebuilt manually on any new platform.

How do we handle international sales tax?

Our Teachable Payments automatically calculates, collects, and remits VAT and GST across 45+ countries so creators never file those taxes themselves.

Which course platform has the lowest transaction fees?

Thinkific offers 0% platform transaction fees from their entry plans in primary markets, but Thinkific manages sales tax for US and Canadian buyers and calculates VAT for UK and EU buyers, leaving EU VAT remittance to the creator. Systeme.io offers 0% transaction fees and applies VAT at checkout automatically, but does not publicly describe itself as merchant of record for VAT. Confirm remittance responsibility directly with Systeme.io before relying on this for compliance planning. We offer 0% platform fees from the Builder plan at $69/month on annual billing, and that tier may cost less than staying on Starter once monthly revenue passes a certain threshold.

Key terms glossary

Teachable Payments: Our native payment gateway that processes transactions and automatically handles international tax remittance across 45+ countries with no manual filing required from the creator.

VAT/GST: Value-Added Tax and Goods and Services Tax, consumption taxes levied on digital products sold to international buyers that creators must calculate, collect, and remit to foreign tax authorities unless the platform handles this automatically.

Platform fee: The percentage-based transaction fee charged by a platform per sale, separate from credit card processing fees and deducted before funds reach your payout account.

Processing fee: The fee charged by payment processors like Stripe or PayPal to handle credit card transactions, separate from platform transaction fees and deducted before funds reach your payout account.

Plan caps: The maximum number of published products permitted on a specific subscription tier, students are unlimited on every plan. Caps rise with each tier, and larger sellers can contact our sales team about a Custom plan.

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TL;DR: Choose your course platform based on revenue volume, student location, and mobile needs, not the headline subscription price. Our Builder plan at $69/month (annual) is the most practical default for creators earning above $533/month who sell internationally and need automated VAT and GST remittance across 45+ countries with native mobile access included on every plan. Thinkific suits US and Canadian sellers who want deep customization and accept 0% fees only on Thinkific Payments, but it leaves UK and EU VAT filing to the creator. Kajabi suits creators who need email funnels built in and can absorb the $143/month entry price. Podia suits creators with large product catalogs who accept no native mobile app at any tier. Udemy suits creators with no existing audience who accept giving up significant revenue share and access to student emails.

Most creators choose a course platform based on the monthly subscription price, only to discover that transaction fees, processing fees, and manual tax filing cost them thousands after their first launch. A $29 plan can quietly become a $150 monthly expense once the 7.5% transaction fee kicks in at scale. The real differentiator is not the video player or the page builder. It is who handles your global tax compliance, whether students can access lessons on their phones, and what you actually take home after every fee stacks up.

This guide breaks down the true cost of ownership, student engagement tools, and mobile delivery across the top five platforms so you can protect your margins before your first sale. We compared our platform against Thinkific, Kajabi, Podia, and Udemy on the metrics that matter most: take-home pay, tax automation, course-delivery depth, and native mobile access.

How we ranked each online course platform

We evaluated each platform on three criteria that directly affect revenue and student outcomes:

1. True take-home pay: The actual revenue you keep after subscription fees, transaction fees, processing fees, and currency conversion fees stack up.
2. Student engagement tools: Course-delivery depth including graded quizzes, compliance settings, watch-time enforcement, and gradebooks.
3. Mobile app access: Native iOS and Android apps with offline playback versus mobile-responsive web wrappers.

These factors determine whether your course business survives past the first launch.

Calculating your true take-home pay

The headline subscription price is the sticker price. Transaction fees, processing fees, and currency conversion are the line items at the bottom of the receipt. A platform with a lower monthly fee can cost significantly more once those line items stack up.

Who handles your tax filing determines how much administrative work lands on you after each sale. We automatically calculate, collect, and remit sales tax, VAT, and GST on our native payment gateways. Thinkific automates US and Canadian sales tax but leaves VAT filing for UK and EU sales to the creator. Kajabi and Podia leave more of the tax filing burden to the creator, which means you may need to handle registration, calculation, and remittance yourself or pay an accountant to do it.

Platform tools for student engagement

A basic video player does not drive course completion. The platforms that keep students engaged offer:

• Graded quizzes with automatic scoring
• Compliance settings that require students to watch at least 90% of a self-hosted video before advancing
• Drip schedules to control content release
• Per-student progress tracking and gradebooks

We include these tools in our course builder. This matters for creators who sell credentialed programs or need to prove that students actually completed the material. The course design resources and student engagement strategies on our blog show how these tools translate into higher completion rates.

Evaluating mobile app student access

Students expect to access courses on their phones. The question is whether they get a real native app or a mobile-responsive web wrapper. Native apps offer offline playback, automatic progress syncing, and push notifications. Web wrappers require a stable internet connection and often lose progress when the browser refreshes.

We include native iOS and Android apps on every plan. Thinkific charges $199/month for its branded mobile app as a separate add-on. Podia has no native app at any tier.

Compare fees and features for course sites

Here is the master comparison across the four direct platforms. We excluded Udemy from this table because its marketplace model operates on a fundamentally different revenue structure.

Platform details

Thinkific: Automates US and Canadian sales tax only. Creators selling to UK, EU, or other regions handle VAT registration, calculation, and remittance themselves or through an accountant. Carries a 1.8/5.0 Trustpilot rating as of September 2026, with recurring complaints about billing, cancellation, and payment access issues documented across 2025 and 2026 reviews.

Kajabi: Kajabi Payments adds a 0.7% surcharge on top of the base card rate for every subscription or payment plan transaction. International sales incur tiered surcharges: 1.5% for EEA (non-UK) cards, 2.5% for UK cards, and 3.25% for cards issued outside the EEA and UK, plus a small fixed fee per transaction. Built-in email funnels and CRM eliminate the need for third-party email tools.

Podia: No native mobile app at any tier, students access courses through a mobile-responsive web wrapper with no offline playback or push notifications. The break-even between Mover ($42/month, 5% fee) and Shaker ($84/month, 0% fee) is $840/month in revenue on annual billing. Offers unlimited products on all plans.

Udemy: Operates as a marketplace, not a direct-to-consumer platform. Udemy reportedly keeps as much as 63% of revenue on organic marketplace sales. The platform cut its subscription revenue share for instructors three times since 2023, from 25% down to 15% by January 2026. Instructors do not receive student email addresses and cannot build a mailing list or take their audience with them if they leave.

Our pricing and fee structure

We offer three plans on annual billing: Starter at $29/month, Builder at $69/month, and Growth at $139/month. The Starter plan carries a 7.5% transaction fee per sale. Builder and Growth carry 0% platform fees. Payment processing fees apply on every plan: US card processing via Teachable Payments is 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction, and international cards incur 3.9% + $0.30.

The break-even point between Starter and Builder is approximately $533/month in revenue on annual billing. At that volume, the Starter plan's 7.5% fee equals the $40 monthly price difference between the two plans. Any creator earning above $533/month pays more in fees on Starter than they would on Builder. On monthly billing, where Starter costs $39/month and Builder costs $89/month, the break-even rises to approximately $667/month because the price difference is $50/month instead of $40/month.

Teachable Payments is our native payment gateway that handles tax calculation, collection, and remittance automatically. Creators on this gateway are removed from the tax filing loop for EU and UK VAT plus US sales tax. Tax-inclusive pricing, which shows one price regardless of buyer location, is exclusive to this gateway.

Our pricing: Clear costs for growing creators

We are the most practical path from expertise to income for creators who sell to a global audience and cannot afford a tax compliance mistake or a prolonged technical setup. Here is what that looks like in practice.

Predicting your take home pay

The Teachable Payments dashboard displays transaction details and payout breakdowns. It automatically calculates, collects, and remits sales tax, VAT, and GST across 45+ countries. You see the full cost stack: subscription, transaction fee, processing fee, and currency conversion, in one view once you understand the complete fee structure.

Building courses for better outcomes

Our Course Builder includes compliance settings, graded quizzes, and student progress tracking. You can require students to watch at least 90% of a self-hosted video before advancing, set drip schedules, and track completion rates per lesson. These tools matter for creators who sell credentialed programs or need to prove learning outcomes.

Supporting students on the go

The native iOS and Android student apps are included on every plan. Students download our app and access your courses. Both the iOS and Android apps support offline playback, letting students download lessons and keep learning without a data connection. Progress syncs across devices, so a student who starts a lesson on their phone can continue it on their laptop.

What creators actually take home

Creators who sell internationally remove VAT filing from their workflow entirely with Teachable Payments. One verified Teachable user on G2 put it directly:

"I looked at many online course platforms before deciding on teachable. It's intuative and they offer excellent support." - Verified user on G2

We've processed $10B+ in cumulative creator earnings in partnership with Hotmart, and 150,000+ active creators across 180 countries use our platform to sell courses, coaching, and digital downloads. The Made on Teachable and Success Stories collections document real creator outcomes, while the Why I Love Using Teachable walks through the platform from a creator's perspective.

Calculating your true net revenue

The math of course hosting comes down to three cost layers: the fixed monthly subscription, the per-transaction processing fees, and the hidden currency conversion fees. Here is how to model your real take-home pay.

Hidden per-transaction platform costs

Payment processing fees apply on every plan, regardless of platform. US card processing via Teachable Payments is 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction. International cards incur 3.9% + $0.30. Non-USD transactions processed through Stripe where currency conversion is required incur a 0.95% currency conversion fee. A US business accepting a European card in euros could pay 3.9% + $0.30 (international card rate) plus 0.95% (currency conversion), for a total of 4.85% + $0.30.

Real net take home after fees

The break-even logic is simple: model your expected monthly revenue against each platform's total cost stack. On our Starter plan, the 7.5% transaction fee costs $150/month at $2,000 in revenue, which is over five times the $29 plan cost. Upgrading to Builder at $69/month removes that fee entirely and saves $110/month in net savings at that volume. The grow your business resources include additional fee modeling examples.

Real take-home pay per revenue tier

Here is the total cost of ownership at three revenue tiers, combining subscription, transaction, and processing fees. Processing assumes 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction on US cards with 30 transactions per tier.

*All figures assume 2.9% + $0.30 per US card transaction and 30 transactions/month, the same base rate each platform publishes for its native payment gateway: Teachable Payments, Thinkific Payments, Kajabi, and Podia's processor (Stripe or PayPal) all state this rate directly. Kajabi's total is a floor: it adds a further 0.7% surcharge on subscription and payment-plan transactions and steeper international-card surcharges not modeled here. Thinkific's total assumes payment via Thinkific Payments, connecting a third-party processor instead adds a 5% surcharge at the Basic tier.

Thinkific appears cheapest on subscription alone, but it automates sales tax only for US and Canadian sales and leaves UK and EU VAT filing to the creator. If you sell to students in other regions like Australia, the administrative cost of tax compliance may erode that subscription savings. The business operations resources cover tax compliance workflows in more depth.

Addressing creator doubts about course hosting

Creators evaluating platforms carry specific doubts: hidden fees, tax compliance errors, launch failures, and platform lock-in. Here is how each concern resolves.

Comparing total costs for creators

See the comparison table above for full platform detail on pricing, tax automation coverage, and mobile app access across all four platforms.

Evaluating mobile access requirements

Students expect native mobile access. See the comparison table above for full mobile app details across all platforms.

Can I export my student data?

Data portability varies by platform. We allow CSV exports of student data. Migration effort scales with how much content and infrastructure you're moving, and bulk student import into our platform is available on the Growth plan and up.

Expected setup time for new courses

On our platform, you can go from signup to a live, purchasable course quickly using this checklist:

1. Sign up for the 7-day free trial
2. Upload your course content using the no-code builder
3. Configure pricing and checkout (built-in, no third-party tools)
4. Enable Teachable Payments for automated tax handling
5. Publish and share your course link

No Zapier chains, external payment configuration, or tax plugin setup required. The launch strategy resources provide a full pre-launch checklist for first-time creators.

Compare the full cost stack across our plans, including processing fees, on the pricing page. Start a 7-day trial and build your first course before committing to a plan.

FAQs

Which platform is cheapest for a creator earning $2,000/month?

Our Builder plan at $69/month with 0% platform fees has lower total monthly costs at $2,000 in revenue when factoring in processing fees. Thinkific Basic at $40/month costs less on subscription alone, but it automates sales tax only for US and Canadian sales and leaves UK and EU VAT to the creator, which may require additional accounting costs for international sellers.

Do my students need a native app to access my course?

Students can access courses through a mobile-responsive web wrapper on any platform, but native apps offer offline playback, push notifications, and automatic progress syncing. We include native iOS and Android apps on every plan, both with offline playback, while Thinkific charges $199/month extra and Podia has no app at all.

What happens if I want to leave my platform?

You can export your student data, but the process varies by platform and plan tier. We allow CSV exports of student data, and the effort scales with how much content and infrastructure you're migrating.

How long does it take to go from signup to my first sale?

On our platform, you can go from signup to a live, purchasable course quickly. The no-code builder with built-in checkout, payments, and tax handling requires no third-party configuration.

Key terms glossary

Tax remittance: The process of calculating, collecting, and paying sales tax, VAT, and GST to the relevant tax authority on behalf of the seller. We automatically handle remittance across 45+ countries on our native payment gateways, removing that filing obligation from the creator entirely.

Teachable Payments: Our native payment gateway that automatically calculates, collects, and remits sales tax, VAT, and GST across 45+ countries.

Tax nexus: A legal connection between a seller and a tax jurisdiction that creates a tax filing obligation. Selling to students in multiple countries can trigger tax nexus in each jurisdiction.

Transaction fee: A percentage of each sale charged by the platform on top of the subscription price. Our Starter plan charges 7.5%, while Builder and Growth charge 0%.

Processing fee: The fee charged by the payment processor for each transaction. US card processing via Teachable Payments is 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction.

Currency conversion fee: A fee charged by Stripe when a payment currency differs from your settlement currency. Non-USD transactions incur a 0.95% currency conversion fee.

Break-even point: The revenue threshold where upgrading from a transaction-fee plan to a 0% fee plan saves more than the subscription price difference. The break-even between our Starter and Builder plans is $533/month on annual billing.

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TL;DR: Most first courses fail before filming starts because creators skip validation and underestimate the real cost of their platform. This guide covers the full process: validating demand before you build, structuring a curriculum around student outcomes, and calculating actual take-home pay. On our Builder plan at $69/month on annual billing, you pay 0% platform fees. The break-even against the Starter plan's 7.5% transaction fee hits at $533/month in course revenue. For creators selling internationally, our native payment gateway automatically calculates, collects, and remits VAT, GST, and sales tax across 45+ countries, removing you from the tax filing loop entirely. By the end of this guide you'll have a validated topic, a priced course, and a platform decision grounded in real fee math.

Most creators spend weeks comparing platforms, payment gateways, and email tools, only to realize they built a product nobody asked for. This happens repeatedly across niches, from finance coaches to coding instructors. The problem isn't the equipment or the platform. It's skipping the validation step that tells you whether anyone will pay for what you're about to build.

This guide walks through the exact process for creators who want their first course to generate revenue, not just consume months of production time. You'll learn how to validate demand before filming, structure a curriculum that keeps students engaged, choose a platform based on real fee math, and launch without the tax compliance headaches that stall international sales.

Must-have assets before you start selling

Before you record a single lesson, you need two things: proof that people will pay for your course and a clear picture of who those people are. Skipping this step is the most common reason creators launch to silence.

Recommended Build Timeline:

• Validation phase: Test your topic through pre-orders or detailed survey responses from target learners
• Production phase: Create your curriculum with focused production time
• Setup phase: Configure your platform and prepare launch marketing
• Launch day: Go live with a purchasable course

Confirm market interest before you build

Validation doesn't require a massive audience. It requires direct evidence that your specific topic solves a problem people will pay to fix. The most reliable methods include email surveys, social media polls, and pre-selling a pilot cohort before building the full curriculum.

One of the most effective approaches is launching a pre-sale or setting up a waitlist to understand if people are willing to pay before the product exists. Ask your audience what they want to learn, what challenges they face, and how they prefer to consume content through short surveys, polls, or interviews.

The validation milestone is concrete: get direct evidence that your topic has a market before you invest weeks in production. Pre-orders and detailed survey responses from target learners provide the clearest signal that people will pay for what you're building.

Service-to-Product Pivot: If you already have coaching clients or service buyers, you have a built-in validation channel. Transition those existing relationships into your first course students. They've already proven they'll pay for your expertise, which removes the biggest launch risk.

Pinpoint your perfect learner profile

Generic demographic profiles don't help you create a course that sells. Instead, define your ideal student by their starting state versus their desired transformation. What specific pain point drives them to seek a solution? What skill level do they currently have? What outcome do they expect after completing your course?

For example, a hypothetical financial planner teaching retirement portfolio building should define their learner as someone who has a 401(k) but no clear withdrawal strategy, not simply "people interested in finance." This specificity shapes every lesson, every marketing message, and every testimonial you'll collect later.

How to choose your course niche

The intersection of personal expertise, market demand, and pricing power determines whether your course can sustain a business. You need all three. Expertise without demand produces a course nobody searches for. Demand without expertise produces content that can't compete with established creators.

Focus your validation effort on demonstrating specific demand through pre-orders rather than relying solely on general category trends. Categories like Finance and Business, Artificial Intelligence, General Health, Programming and Coding, and Languages represent proven markets with consistent demand. If your expertise falls in one of these categories, you're working in a space where students actively search for solutions. If it doesn't, validation becomes even more critical.

Blueprint your online course for faster launch

Once you've validated demand, structure your course for rapid development and high completion rates. A clear blueprint prevents the scope creep that turns a six-week project into a six-month stall.

Map your learner success path

Design your course backward, starting with the ultimate transformation or result your student will achieve. If your course promises to help someone build a retirement portfolio, the final milestone is a completed, personalized investment plan. Work backward from that outcome to identify the logical milestones that serve as your course modules.

This backward design keeps every lesson tied to a specific outcome. If a lesson doesn't move the student closer to the next milestone, it doesn't belong in the course.

Draft your curriculum roadmap

Organize lessons within each module so they build on each other sequentially. Shorter lessons in the 5 to 10 minute range often work well for video-based courses, keeping student attention focused. Consider that shorter courses generally see higher completion rates than longer courses, so structure your curriculum accordingly.

Pick your ideal student experience

Three primary formats work for online courses in 2026:

1. Self-paced: Students work through pre-recorded content on their own schedule. This format scales without your time and works well for evergreen sales.
2. Cohort-based: Students move through the course together with fixed start and end dates. This format can drive higher completion rates through accountability but requires your active presence during each cohort.
3. Hybrid: Self-paced content combined with live coaching calls or Q&A sessions. This balances scalability with high-touch support.

We support these formats through drip content settings, which release lessons on a scheduled timeline rather than giving students access to everything at once.

Balancing content depth and speed

Reality Check: Building a high-quality course requires focused effort over several weeks. Anyone promising overnight revenue from a course you build in a weekend is selling a myth, not a business model.

The "Service Trap" is real: creators who continue trading hours for coaching dollars while their course sits half-finished never reach the revenue model they're building toward. Commit to the build phase with a hard launch date, then ship.

Building your engaging course curriculum

Production quality matters, but not in the way most creators think. Audio quality matters far more than video quality. Students will tolerate average video, but they will abandon a course with poor audio within minutes.

How to film professional course videos

Your equipment budget should match your current stage, not your aspirations. Start with beginner gear and upgrade only when course revenue justifies the investment.

Step-by-step course content creation

Script each lesson before recording. This doesn't mean reading word-for-word, but having a clear outline prevents rambling and keeps lessons within the 5 to 10 minute target. Prepare simple, clean slide templates that support your points without becoming walls of text on screen.

Upload your scripted lessons directly to our course builder, which accepts video files, PDFs, and audio files. You can host video natively or use third-party video hosting through custom embed blocks depending on your content protection needs.

Add value with printable materials

Supplement video lessons with worksheets, checklists, templates, and resource guides. These materials increase the perceived value of your course and give students something tangible to work through. A retirement planning course might include a portfolio allocation worksheet. A coding course might include a debugging checklist.

Expert tips for professional editing

Keep editing simple. Cut out long pauses, mistakes, and filler words. You don't need motion graphics or complex transitions. Accessible editing software handles everything a course creator needs without a steep learning curve.

Comparing top tools for selling your course

Platform selection determines your data ownership, tax compliance burden, and real take-home pay. This decision matters more than any equipment purchase you'll make.

Essential features for your first course

Quick Platform Readiness Check:

• Do you want to own your student email list? A dedicated platform gives you full access to student names and emails.
• Do you want to set your own prices and run promotions? A dedicated platform lets you set your own prices, coupons, and upsells.
• Are you comfortable with a platform keeping 63% of organic sales, per Udemy's instructor terms? If so, a marketplace may suit your needs.

If you answered yes to the first two questions, you're ready for a dedicated platform like ours.

"I looked at many online course platforms before deciding on teachable. It's intuative and they offer excellent support." - Verified user on G2

Calculating your real take-home pay

Marketplace commissions can swallow significant portions of your gross sales. Udemy keeps 63% of organic marketplace sales, leaving instructors with 37%. On our Builder plan, we charge 0% platform fees, leaving you with only standard credit card processing fees, typically 2.9% + $0.30 for US cards.

The break-even math between our Starter and Builder plans matters for creators watching every dollar. On annual billing, the Starter plan costs $29/month with a 7.5% transaction fee per sale. The Builder plan costs $69/month with 0% platform fees. The price gap is $40/month. At $533/month in course revenue, the Starter plan's 7.5% transaction fee equals $40, which is the exact cost of upgrading. Any creator earning above $533/month on annual billing pays more in fees on Starter than they would on Builder.

Run the full fee math for your expected volume on our pricing page before choosing a plan.

Handling global sales tax automatically

Selling to a student in Germany triggers EU VAT obligations. Selling to a student in New York triggers US sales tax. Without automated handling, you're responsible for registering for foreign tax IDs, calculating the correct rates, and filing returns in multiple jurisdictions.

Our native payment gateway, Teachable Payments, automatically calculates, collects, and remits sales tax, VAT, and GST on every sale across 45+ countries. According to our tax compliance documentation, "Teachable will automatically calculate, collect and remit U.S. sales tax on the sales of your school's products to the relevant state authorities, where applicable." You don't file anything, track any jurisdictions, or chase any deadlines. This removes you from the tax filing loop entirely, which is the single biggest operational advantage for creators selling internationally.

Simplify your course checkout process

Checkout friction kills conversions. Every additional field, redirect, or confusing step costs you sales. Our built-in checkout is designed to streamline the purchase process with support for multiple payment methods including credit cards and PayPal.

Streamlining your course setup process

Once you've chosen a platform, setup should take days, not weeks. The goal is a live, purchasable course without touching code or configuring separate payment tools.

Prepare files for student access

Organize your video files, PDFs, and audio tracks before uploading. Name files clearly by module and lesson number so you can map them to your curriculum quickly. Our platform handles video hosting, though you can also integrate third-party hosting solutions if needed.

"No special coding knowledge required, everything is pretty drag and drop. We're able to upload videos and PDFs and add things like quizzes and text to each lesson." - Verified user on G2

Map out your module and lesson plan

Inside our course builder, create modules that match your curriculum roadmap, then add lessons to each module. Set up drip settings to release content on a schedule rather than all at once.

How to manage global student payments

Connect your bank account to Teachable Payments to accept credit cards and PayPal. Processing fees are transparent and competitive with industry standards. Full fee details are available on our pricing page.

Set up order bumps and upsells

An order bump is a low-ticket offer presented on the checkout page that a buyer can add with a single click before completing their purchase. A one-click upsell appears after checkout and offers a complementary product, like a private coaching session or advanced module.

Choosing the right price point for enrollments

Pricing determines your margins, your marketing options, and your student expectations. Set it too low and you can't afford to acquire customers. Set it too high and you'll struggle to convert without a proven reputation.

How to calculate real profit margins

Your net profit equals gross sales minus platform subscriptions, processing fees, and marketing costs. If you sell a $200 course on the Builder plan, you pay 2.9% + $0.30 in processing fees per US card sale, which equals approximately $6.10 per transaction. Your platform subscription of $69/month spreads across all sales that month. Run this math before setting your price, not after.

How to determine your pricing tier

Your pricing tier determines your margins, your marketing options, and your student expectations. Lower-priced courses typically require a larger audience to generate meaningful revenue but can convert more easily. Higher-priced courses allow you to invest in paid ads and offer high-touch support, but require more trust-building before purchase through case studies, testimonials, and free value demonstrations.

How to offer installment pricing

Multi-month payment plans and buy-now-pay-later options can improve conversion rates for high-ticket courses. General e-commerce data points in that direction, though course-specific lift will vary. A $600 course structured as $200/month for three months lowers the perceived barrier for a student evaluating the investment. BNPL through Afterpay and Klarna is available once BackOffice is enabled on Teachable Payments, at a fee of 6.99% + $0.30 per transaction, notably higher than standard card processing at 2.9% + $0.30, so it's worth reserving for price points where the conversion lift justifies the added cost. Provider limits apply: Afterpay covers transactions between $1 and $2,000, Klarna between $10 and $12,000.

Run A/B tests on your prices

Test different price points to find the optimal balance between conversion rate and total revenue. Sometimes a higher price with a lower conversion rate generates more revenue per visitor than a lower price with a higher conversion rate. Test systematically and let data guide your final price.

Proven ways to launch and sell online courses

Marketing doesn't require a massive budget. It requires consistent execution on channels you own.

5 ways to capture new subscribers

1. Social media bios: Link your lead magnet in every bio across Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn.
2. YouTube call-to-actions: Direct viewers to your email list in every video description and end screen.
3. Podcast mentions: If you guest on podcasts, direct listeners to a specific landing page.
4. Guest blogging: Write for publications your target learners already read.
5. Networking: Share your lead magnet in relevant communities where your ideal students gather.

Connect your email service provider through our integrations, available on the Builder plan and above, to automatically sync new students to your marketing list.

Use lead magnets to build trust

A lead magnet is a high-value free resource, like a mini-course, template, or PDF guide, that you exchange for an email address. Your email list is your core business asset, protecting you from social media algorithm shifts. Social reach is borrowed. The email list is the only asset you fully control when a platform changes its terms.

Steps to open your course for sales

A launch sequence typically covers announcing the problem and solution, sharing free value from the course, answering objections, providing social proof, and a final call. Most enrollments happen in the final 48 hours, so your closing message matters most.

Automate your course sales funnel

After at least one successful live launch, transition to an evergreen funnel using automated email sequences through your connected email platform. This gives you insight into your audience's common objections, their favorite lessons, and the overall transformation they want.

Drive course enrollment via affiliates

Recruit past students or industry peers to promote your course in exchange for a percentage of each sale. Our BackOffice is an optional add-on, priced at 2% to 2.8% per transaction, that automatically handles affiliate payouts and tax forms, removing hours of manual admin per launch.

Boosting student success and retention

Enrollment is the beginning, not the end. Student outcomes drive reviews, referrals, and repeat purchases.

Boost retention with discussion sections and live Q&A

Encourage student engagement through discussion sections and scheduled live Q&A sessions. Discussion sections give students a space to ask questions and share progress directly within the course. Live Q&A sessions, whether hosted monthly or tied to cohort start dates, keep students accountable and reduce drop-off between lessons.

Monitor student progress and completion

Use our student progress reports to see where students get stuck or drop off. If a specific lesson consistently shows high abandonment, that's a signal to refine the content or add additional explanation. Reach out to inactive students with a personal email offering help.

Building trust with student reviews

Student reviews are one of the highest-converting elements on a course sales page. Collect them automatically using post-course surveys and display them prominently so prospective students can read real outcomes before they buy.

Refine your course using student data

Use quiz scores, completion rates, and direct feedback to continuously improve your curriculum. A course that evolves based on student data stays relevant and referable. The creators who treat their course as a living product, not a finished artifact, are the ones who build sustainable businesses.

Start building your first course today with a 7-day free trial. Run the fee math and compare plans on our pricing page before you commit.

FAQs

How long does it take to create and sell an online course?

Most creators take somewhere between 4 and 12 weeks from initial planning to launch day, depending on how quickly they validate demand and how much content they produce. A focused build with a hard deadline tends to land closer to 4 to 6 weeks, a broader curriculum with slower validation can stretch longer.

Can I create an online course with no email list?

Yes. Validate your topic by offering 1-on-1 coaching or consulting first. Use the revenue and testimonials from those clients to fund your course creation and build your initial audience.

What tools do I need to build an online course?

You only need a computer, a smartphone for filming, an inexpensive USB microphone, and a subscription to one of our plans. You do not need separate video hosting, checkout software, or tax compliance plugins.

How do I get my first paying student?

Reach out directly to 5 people in your network who fit your ideal learner profile. Offer them a 50% founding-member discount in exchange for honest feedback and a testimonial upon completion.

What is the break-even point between the Starter and Builder plans?

On annual billing, the break-even point is $533/month in course revenue. Above that threshold, the Starter plan's 7.5% transaction fee costs more than upgrading to Builder's 0% platform fee at $69/month.

Do you handle international sales tax automatically?

Yes. We automatically calculate, collect, and remit sales tax, VAT, and GST across 45+ countries through Teachable Payments, removing you from the tax filing loop entirely.

Key terms glossary

Teachable Payments: Our native payment gateway that processes student transactions and automatically handles global sales tax, VAT, and GST remittance.

Order bump: A supplementary offer presented on the checkout page that a buyer can add to their order with a single click before completing their purchase.

Drip content: A feature that releases course lessons to students on a scheduled timeline rather than giving them access to the entire curriculum at once.

Platform fee: The transaction fee charged by a platform per sale, which is 7.5% on our Starter plan and 0% on the Builder plan and above.

Processing fee: The fee charged by payment processors to handle credit card transactions, typically 2.9% + $0.30 for US cards.

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TL;DR: If your business depends on structured course delivery and global sales, choose a platform built for learning, not just social chatting. Skool added native video hosting in September 2024, but it still lacks quizzes and certificates. We provide deep pedagogical tools, native iOS and Android apps, and automated VAT remittance across 45+ countries. For growing creators, our Builder plan at $69/month (annual) removes platform fees entirely, making it the most practical path to protect your margins and reach your first $10K/month. If your product is the community itself, paid access to peers and to you, with courses as a bonus, a course-first platform isn't built for that model. Know what your students are actually paying for before you choose.

Skool is built for engagement. That's its strength and its ceiling. When your primary product is a structured course that students pay to complete, a social feed with leaderboards doesn't replace quizzes, certificates, or compliance settings. Many creators start on Skool for the community features, only to realize that delivering a high-quality educational experience requires more than a discussion forum. This guide compares the best Skool alternatives to help you choose the right home for your digital products.

Why your course needs more than just community

Community is a feature. The course is the product. Skool's design philosophy treats the community as the centerpiece, with course content bolted on. That works when the community itself is what people pay for. It breaks down when students expect structured lessons, assessments, and proof of completion.

Outgrowing Skool's social-first design

Skool does not have quizzes, tests, certificates, or advanced LMS reporting. Certificates, quizzes, assignments, email marketing, sales funnels, custom domain, CRM integrations, and advanced reporting are all missing from Skool. It does offer drip content scheduling, which lets you unlock course pages after a certain number of days. At $99/month, billed monthly ($82/month on annual billing), that's a real feature gap next to dedicated course hosts.

Skool added native video hosting in September 2024, so you can upload lessons directly without Vimeo or Loom. That removes one friction point. But the assessment and completion tools that structured courses require are still absent.

The result is a patchwork. You pay Skool $99/month, then add a quiz tool for assessments and a certificate generator for completion. You configure each tool separately, and each one can break independently during a launch. For a solo creator with no team to absorb mistakes, that's real operational risk.

Scaling beyond Skool course limits

Skool's single-tier structure limits creators who want to offer multiple courses, tiers, or complex curricula under one brand. The platform is organized around groups, not products. If you sell three courses, you either cram them into one group or pay for multiple groups.

Our approach is different. The Starter plan includes drip scheduling, quizzes, and certificates, along with membership tiers and access to the student mobile app. You can structure a curriculum with modules, lessons, and assessments, not just a feed of posts.

Scaling revenue without extra fees

Skool's group subscription is flat: $99/month per group (billed monthly, $82/month on annual billing), on top of its own 2.9% + $0.30 per-transaction fee (rising to 3.9% + $0.30 on any single transaction above $900). That subscription cost gets expensive when you need multiple groups for different products. Two groups would cost $198/month. Three would cost $297/month. The cost scales with your product count, not your revenue.

Our Builder plan at $69/month (annual) includes 0% platform fees and supports up to 10 products with unlimited students. That's more products at a lower price, with no per-sale transaction fee eating into your margins.

Essential requirements for your next course host

Before you migrate, know what a serious course platform should include. Here's the checklist to use when evaluating any host.

Building scalable course frameworks

A course platform needs pedagogical depth. That means drip content that releases lessons on a schedule, compliance settings that require students to watch a minimum percentage of a video before advancing, and graded quizzes that actually assess learning.

We provide quizzes, let you drip content to control the pace of learning, and offer video watch compliance that requires a certain amount of video time completed before moving to the next step. You can then grant certificates to graduates.

Skool has none of this. If your learning program requires formal completion tracking, you need a separate LMS.

Understand true platform costs

The headline subscription price is the sticker price. Transaction fees, processing fees, and currency conversion are the line items at the bottom. The receipt only makes sense when all the lines are visible.

Here's the total cost of ownership comparison at different revenue levels:

Assumes 30 transactions/month at $0.30 per transaction plus a percentage fee. Skool's Pro plan charges its own 2.9% + $0.30 per-transaction fee (rising to 3.9% + $0.30 on any single transaction above $900), not a 0% platform fee. Our Builder plan charges 0% platform fee, only standard card processing at 2.9% + $0.30 per US transaction via Teachable Payments.

Our Starter plan has a 7.5% transaction fee. The break-even point between Starter and Builder is $533/month in revenue on annual billing. Above that, the 7.5% transaction fee costs more than the price gap between the two plans. Builder becomes cheaper.

How platforms handle sales tax

International tax compliance is where platforms differ sharply. We handle VAT and sales tax compliance for you. Our Teachable Payments automatically calculates, collects, and remits sales tax, VAT, and GST on every sale across 45+ countries. You don't file anything, track any jurisdictions, or chase any deadlines.

Kajabi calculates and collects sales tax but does not file or remit sales taxes on your behalf. Podia collects sales taxes at checkout but you handle the remittance to tax authorities yourself. Thinkific remits US and Canada sales tax automatically, but international VAT filing remains your responsibility.

Dedicated course hosting for serious entrepreneurs

We're built for course-first creators. Here's what that means in practice.

Organize lessons for student success

The drag-and-drop course builder lets you structure a curriculum with modules, lessons, and assessments. We host video directly, no third-party host required. Student progress tracking shows you which lessons students drop off, so you can iterate on content that isn't landing.

All-in pricing with no transaction fees

The Builder plan at $69/month (annual) includes 0% platform fees. You pay only standard credit card processing fees, which are 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction for US cards via Teachable Payments. That's the full cost stack, no hidden line items.

Compare that to Kajabi, which starts at $143/month (annual) for its Basic plan. Our Builder at $69/month undercuts Kajabi's Basic plan by more than half, $69/month versus $143/month, while including affiliate tools, email integrations, and native mobile delivery.

Stop worrying about cross-border tax

Teachable Payments is the feature that separates us from every competitor in this price range. It automatically calculates, collects, and remits VAT and GST across 45+ countries. You are removed from the tax filing loop entirely.

When a sale is processed through our native payment gateways, we determine when and how much sales tax needs to be charged, collected, and remitted. We remit the collected taxes to ensure each appropriate EU tax authority receives the applicable taxes, as explained in our EU VAT guide.

For any creator with international sales, Teachable Payments removes the late-night research sessions about tax obligations entirely. A student in Germany triggers a VAT obligation. Teachable Payments handles it. On many other platforms, you handle it yourself.

Beyond Skool: Better tools for selling courses

Skool isn't the only alternative. Here's how the other major platforms compare.

How Teachable compares to Kajabi

Kajabi offers marketing automation and email funnels bundled into its subscription, but it's the most expensive option in the category, starting at $143/month (annual) and ranging up to $399/month.

Our Builder plan at $69/month (annual) delivers comparable course-delivery depth, quizzes, certificates, drip content, compliance settings, and native video hosting, and integrates with your existing email tools through built-in connections. That's less than half the cost of Kajabi's entry tier. For growing creators who don't need native email automation bundled into their subscription cost, Builder is the stronger choice.

Best tools for selling digital courses

Thinkific has a strong course builder, starting at $40/month (annual). It charges 0% platform fees when you use Thinkific Payments, but a 5% fee applies to third-party processors on the Basic plan, a distinction worth checking before you connect your existing payment setup. But Thinkific does not remit VAT internationally on your behalf in all jurisdictions, and its branded mobile app costs an additional $199/month. We include native iOS and Android apps on all plans and handle global VAT automatically.

Podia's Mover plan carries a 5% transaction fee, Shaker and Earthquaker drop that to 0%. But Podia lacks course-delivery depth and has no native mobile app at any tier. We provide quizzes, certificates, compliance settings, and native iOS and Android apps included on all plans, tools Podia doesn't offer regardless of which plan you're on.

How Teachable compares to Mighty Networks

Mighty Networks focuses on community-led growth, with courses as a secondary feature. When the primary product is a course with assessments and proof of completion, we deliver the purpose-built tools that Mighty Networks does not: quizzes that assess learning, certificates that prove completion, compliance settings that enforce video watch time before students advance, and a structured curriculum builder that organizes modules, lessons, and assessments into a real learning path. If your students are paying for a course that delivers a measurable outcome rather than access to a community with courses attached, Teachable is the right foundation.

Which platform offers the best value?

Here's the side-by-side comparison across the platforms that matter for course creators.

Course and learning features

Business and pricing features

*Thinkific's $40/mo Basic plan reaches 0% fees only via Thinkific Payments, connecting a different processor adds a 5% fee. Our $69/mo Builder plan holds 0% platform fees regardless of payment gateway.

Course features for higher completion

Completion tools separate a course platform from a content library. Quizzes assess learning. Certificates provide proof of completion. Compliance settings enforce that students actually watch the material before advancing.

We include all three on every plan. Skool includes none. If your students need to demonstrate learning, not just participate in discussions, that's the deciding factor.

Audience interaction and chat features

Skool's gamification is genuinely good. Members earn points for participation, which encourages engagement. Events and calendar features schedule group calls and live Q&As. Unlimited live streaming runs sessions directly inside the community. We support engagement differently: progress tracking, completion certificates, and structured lesson pacing give students a clear finish line, not just a feed to scroll.

Our course-first model keeps the learning outcome front and center. Students advance through structured lessons, assessments, and certificates rather than a points leaderboard, which is the right trade-off when completion and proof of learning are what your students actually paid for.

Pricing models and fee transparency

Skool's pricing is simple but inflexible. $99/month per group (billed monthly, $82/month on annual billing), plus its own 2.9% + $0.30 per-transaction fee that rises to 3.9% + $0.30 on any single transaction above $900. No product-based pricing, so multiple courses mean multiple groups.

Our pricing scales with your revenue. Starter at $29/month (annual) with a 7.5% transaction fee works for early-stage creators. Builder at $69/month (annual) with 0% platform fees is the sweet spot for growing creators. Growth at $139/month (annual) supports up to 50 products and unlimited students.

Platform payout speed and fee models

On Teachable Payments, you can set your payout frequency to daily, weekly, or monthly. If you select daily payouts, Teachable Payments initiates your payout after 2 business days, Tuesday's sales are sent on Thursday. Your bank may take up to 5 additional business days to make the funds available in your account.

Other platforms may have less transparent payout schedules. You shouldn't have to guess when your revenue lands in your account.

Matching features to your growth goals

The right platform depends on your primary revenue model.

Scaling revenue through course sales

If your primary goal is selling high-ticket or volume courses, you need a platform built for course delivery. That means native video hosting, quizzes, certificates, and compliance settings. Our Builder plan at $69/month (annual) with 0% platform fees delivers all of that at a strong price-to-feature ratio in the category.

When interaction is your product

If the community itself is the product, paid access to peers and to you, with courses as a secondary bonus, you're describing a different business model than a course-first platform is built for. The honest answer is that a platform optimized for structured course delivery, assessments, and certificates is not the right tool when the course is the afterthought. Know what your students are actually paying for before you choose.

Balancing courses and community needs

Most creators need both. A structured course that delivers the learning outcome, plus a community that keeps students engaged and accountable. Our hybrid model gives you the course depth of a dedicated LMS with the pedagogy serious courses require.

Key considerations for your platform move

Migrating platforms feels daunting, but the process is more straightforward than you think.

Transferring content from Skool

Here's the migration checklist:

1. Export your student list: From Skool, export your member data to a CSV file.
2. Import to Teachable: In your school, click the Import CSV tab, choose your file, and select the product you want to enroll students into, as our student import guide explains.
3. Download your video content: Download your videos from Skool or your external host, then upload them directly to our native video hosting.
4. Recreate your course structure: Use our drag-and-drop builder to organize modules, lessons, and quizzes.
5. Set up your checkout: Configure your pricing, order bumps, and payment gateway.
6. Test the full workflow: Enroll a test student, process a test payment, and walk through enrollment, lesson access, and certificate delivery before inviting your real students.

Course completion history does not transfer from Skool, so students start fresh in the new school. That's a one-time cost worth accepting for the pedagogical tools you gain.

Which platform gets me to first sale fastest?

Our no-code setup with built-in checkout, payments, and tax handling means you can go from signup to a live, purchasable course without Zapier chains or external payment configuration. The 7-day free trial lets you build a real product and test the full workflow before committing.

Skool requires you to configure assessment tools separately, since it has no native quizzes or certificates. That's real setup time before you can test a full course experience.

Calculate your real take-home pay

Run the math before you choose. On our Starter plan, the 7.5% transaction fee applies to each sale. At $533/month in revenue on annual billing, that fee equals the $40/month price gap to Builder. Above that, Builder is cheaper.

On Skool, the $99/month subscription plus processing fees means your cost structure may increase as you grow. That's the opposite of what you want.

Automated VAT and tax compliance

If you sell to students in Germany, Australia, or Canada, you have tax obligations you may not know about. Teachable Payments handles VAT and GST remittance across 45+ countries automatically. You never file those taxes yourself.

On Kajabi or Podia, you're responsible for handling certain aspects of tax compliance in jurisdictions where you have students. That's a part-time job you didn't sign up for.

Start a 7-day trial and build your first course before committing to a plan, or compare the full cost stack across our plans, including processing fees, on our pricing page.

FAQs

Does Skool host course videos natively?

Yes, Skool added native video hosting in September 2024, so you can upload lessons directly without Vimeo or Loom.

How do you handle international VAT?

We automatically calculate, collect, and remit VAT and GST across 45+ countries through Teachable Payments, removing you from the tax filing loop entirely.

What is the transaction fee on your Builder plan?

The Builder plan at $69/month (annual) has a 0% platform transaction fee, meaning you only pay standard credit card processing fees of 2.9% + $0.30 per US transaction.

Can I migrate my students from Skool to Teachable?

Yes, you can import your student list via CSV file and enroll them into your new Teachable school. Course completion history does not transfer, so students start fresh.

Does Skool offer quizzes and certificates?

No, Skool does not have quizzes, tests, certificates, or advanced LMS reporting. You may need a separate LMS for formal completion tracking.

What is the break-even point between our Starter and Builder plans?

The break-even point is $533/month in revenue on annual billing. Above that, the Starter plan's 7.5% transaction fee costs more than upgrading to Builder.

Key terms glossary

Teachable Payments: Our native payment gateway that handles student transactions, automated payouts, and international tax remittance across 45+ countries.

Tax nexus: The level of connection between a seller and a state or country that triggers a legal obligation to collect and remit sales tax or VAT.

Drip content: A feature that releases course lessons to students gradually over time rather than giving them access to the entire course at once.

Order bump: A high-converting checkout offer that lets students add a complementary product to their purchase with a single click.

Compliance settings: Course rules that require students to complete specific lessons or watch a minimum percentage of a video before advancing.

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TL;DR: Teachable Payments calculates, collects, and remits VAT and GST across 45+ countries automatically with no third-party tool required. Kajabi's pricing ranges from $143/month to $399/month on annual billing. The headline subscription covers email marketing, landing pages, funnels, and CRM, but Kajabi's Sales Tax feature calculates and collects VAT and sales tax at checkout only for sellers registered in a specific set of eligible countries, and does not file or remit on the seller's behalf. Third-party tools like Quaderno or TaxJar are required to close that gap. For creators primarily hosting courses and selling to a global audience, the cost and compliance gap between the two platforms is worth calculating before signing up.

Most platform pricing pages show you the subscription cost. They rarely show you what that subscription actually covers at your current revenue volume, which tools you'll use versus pay for unused, or what a full international sale costs after processing fees and tax compliance are factored in. Our Builder plan at $69/month on annual billing is the benchmark used throughout this breakdown, because it represents the point where platform fees drop to 0% and automated tax remittance is built in at the subscription level. This breakdown covers every current Kajabi tier, models the real cost at $2,000 and $10,000 in monthly revenue, and flags the one compliance gap that catches international sellers off guard most often.

What Kajabi's subscription price actually covers

Kajabi's pricing includes hosted courses, a website builder, email marketing, and checkout in one subscription. Whether that bundled price is competitive depends entirely on how many of those tools you use regularly. A creator who runs active funnels and email sequences through Kajabi natively gets measurable value from the bundle. A creator who primarily hosts courses and manages payments is paying for marketing infrastructure that may go unused.

Choosing annual billing saves money across every tier compared to monthly billing, and that gap is material on the higher plans. That saving requires paying the full annual amount upfront, so the trade-off is cash flow flexibility versus cost efficiency.

Here's the core pricing structure:

Funnels and landing pages are unlimited on all three plans.

The entry-level plan is where the "all-in-one" promise meets its tightest capacity limits. Creators comparing platforms by subscription price often start here and discover within months that contact and member caps fill faster than expected.

Kajabi plan limits at each price tier

Core functionality for new creators

The Basic plan costs $143/month on annual billing and $179/month on monthly billing. The plan includes 2 admin users.

A creator approaching the 2,500 contact cap must upgrade to the Growth plan regardless of whether any other feature is needed. That upgrade adds $56/month on annual billing. Our Builder plan at $69/month on annual billing includes no contact cap and no forced upgrade path tied to list growth.

Growth plan features and limits

The Growth plan unlocks affiliate marketing and the ability to remove Kajabi branding from course pages.

Moving from Basic to Growth adds $56/month on annual billing. For that increase, the Growth plan adds affiliate marketing and the ability to remove Kajabi branding. Our Builder plan includes affiliate tools at $69/month on annual billing, without requiring a contact-driven upgrade to unlock them.

Pro plan costs and usage limits

The Pro plan costs $399/month on annual billing and $499/month on monthly billing, totaling $4,788 per year on annual billing. The Pro plan supports unlimited products, unlimited funnels, 100,000 contacts, and 3 websites. At $4,788/year on annual billing, Pro is built for high-volume operations where the contact database and multi-site management are actively used.

What Kajabi's subscription does not include

Built-in email marketing

Kajabi includes email marketing on every plan with unlimited sends. For creators running straightforward broadcast emails and basic automation, this covers the core use case. Creators who need advanced conditional logic or deep segmentation will find the native builder limited. We pair with dedicated email platforms through Builder-tier integrations, keeping specialized email capability separate from course delivery without inflating the course platform subscription.

Sales pages and checkout funnels

Kajabi's Pipeline builder handles landing pages, sales pages, and checkout flows natively on all plans. For most course launches this covers the core need. Where creators hit limits is in design precision and checkout customization. When the brand demands a specific visual standard or the checkout experience needs structural changes beyond what the native templates allow, some creators add external design assets that increase costs outside the subscription.

CRM and behavioral triggers

Kajabi's CRM covers contact records, tagging, purchase history, and basic behavioral triggers. For a creator managing a course business under $10,000/month, this is typically sufficient. The gap appears when a creator needs lead scoring, advanced pipeline management, or deep sales process automation. In those cases, a dedicated CRM tool may still need to run alongside Kajabi, which directly undermines the bundled pricing value proposition and adds to the monthly cost stack.

Course structure and learning management

Kajabi's course builder covers video, text, and quiz content, but the tooling stays close to what's needed to deliver a purchase, not to run a structured learning experience. Gradebook functionality, minimum watch-time enforcement, and per-student progress tracking go deeper on our platform at less than half Kajabi Basic's price, which matters most for creators whose students need to demonstrably complete material, not just buy access to it.

Teachable versus Kajabi: The real monthly cost

The case for Kajabi's pricing depends on whether the alternative stack actually costs more. Here's a realistic comparison of Kajabi Basic against a stacked model using Teachable and standalone tools:

Our Builder plan at $69/month on annual billing covers course hosting, payments, automated VAT and GST remittance across 45+ countries, a native mobile app on iOS and Android, and affiliate tools with no contact cap. Adding a dedicated email tool to that stack typically lands between $98 and $148/month total, still below Kajabi Basic at $143/month, and each tool can be upgraded or replaced independently. With Kajabi, every tool in the bundle is tied to a single vendor and a single upgrade path driven by contact or product limits rather than feature need.

The full Kajabi cost stack

How Kajabi handles payment fees

Kajabi charges 0% platform transaction fees on every plan when using Kajabi Payments, but the processing fee structure is more layered than the headline suggests. The base processing rate is 2.9% + $0.30 on Basic, dropping to 2.7% + $0.30 on Pro. If you use your own Stripe account instead of Kajabi Payments, Kajabi adds a 2% surcharge on Basic, 1% on Growth, and 0.5% on Pro on top of Stripe's standard fees.

Our Builder plan also charges 0% platform fees at $69/month on annual billing, at less than half the subscription cost of Kajabi's Basic tier. What both platforms share is that payment processing fees from Stripe or PayPal apply on every transaction regardless of plan. Stripe's standard rate is 2.9% + $0.30 for US card transactions, with international cards adding 1.5% more and bringing the effective rate to 4.4% + $0.30 for non-US buyers.

On $10,000/month in revenue with a mixed international card base, payment processing can represent a material portion of your revenue on top of the subscription, and that fee is invisible on the Kajabi pricing page until the first payout statement arrives.

When to upgrade your Kajabi plan

A creator who reaches the contact cap on their current plan must upgrade, even if the only thing they needed was more headroom. That upgrade increases monthly costs substantially on both annual and monthly billing. Product limits work the same way: five products on Basic covers a lean catalog, but a creator adding a standalone coaching offer, a second course, a members-only resource library, a bundle product, and a mini-course fills the Basic cap quickly. The capacity ceiling, not a feature need, is almost always what forces the upgrade decision.

Comparing annual and monthly Kajabi costs

The 20% annual discount is consistent across all plans, but the dollar savings vary significantly:

If revenue is inconsistent or you're still testing the platform, that upfront commitment carries real risk.

What you pay earning $2,000/month

A creator earning $2,000/month with a small product catalog and member base would likely fit within the Basic plan. Here's an estimated cost model:

• Basic plan (annual): $143
• Stripe processing on $2,000 at 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction (estimate 20 transactions at $100 average): approximately $64
• Total monthly cost: approximately $207

Take-home after platform and processing: approximately $1,793 That represents an effective cost rate of approximately 10.4% of revenue, which is worth modeling before committing to a plan.

What you pay earning $10,000/month

A creator earning $10,000/month with a larger product catalog and higher member count would likely need a higher-tier plan. Here's an estimated cost model:

• Growth plan (annual): $199/month
• Stripe processing on $10,000 at 2.8% + $0.30 per transaction (estimate 80 transactions): approximately $304
• Total monthly cost: approximately $503

Take-home after platform and processing: approximately $9,497 At this revenue level, the effective cost rate drops to approximately 5.03%, and the Growth plan's bundled marketing tools start to justify their cost if you're actively running funnels and email sequences to maintain that volume.

Who Kajabi's pricing works for and where the math breaks down

Kajabi works best for an established creator earning over $10,000/month, and only when the funnel builder, email automation, and CRM are all in regular, active use, not sitting idle behind the course. The platform's value is proportional to utilization: every feature you use regularly is a tool you're not paying for separately, and every feature you don't is dead weight on the subscription.

A practical checklist for launch readiness on Kajabi:

1. Payment gateway setup: Stripe or PayPal connected and tested with a real transaction.
2. Email sequence testing: Automated welcome series and sales sequences verified end-to-end.
3. Checkout flow audit: Full purchase experience tested as a student, including upsell steps and confirmation emails.

If all three are operational and you're running regular launches with active funnel work, Kajabi's subscription cost is defensible. If any of those three tools go unused after the first quarter, the math shifts fast. For creators who do not run regular funnels or email sequences through Kajabi natively, our Builder plan at $69/month on annual billing covers course hosting, payments, and automated VAT remittance across 45+ countries without paying for a marketing suite that goes unused.

Kajabi's international tax gap and what it costs

This is the section most Kajabi pricing guides omit: international tax compliance. Kajabi does not natively apply VAT to your offers, so you must either manually add it to your offer price or use third-party software. Kajabi's Sales Tax feature, powered by Quaderno, calculates and collects VAT and sales tax at checkout for sellers registered in Kajabi Payments-eligible countries (US, Canada, Australia, UAE, UK, and select European countries), but does not file or remit on the seller's behalf. That responsibility stays with you. That's the same footprint as Kajabi Payments generally. For creators outside those markets or selling broadly to international buyers, you must either manually configure tax rates or integrate a third-party tool like Quaderno or TaxJar.

Quaderno starts at $29/month for its Hobby plan, scaling by transaction volume. TaxJar starts at $39/month, with AutoFile fees of $50 to $55 per filing on top of that. Adding tax automation tools to your Kajabi plan increases your monthly software costs before payment processing is factored in.

The more significant burden is administrative: even with Quaderno or TaxJar automating calculation and collection at checkout, filing and remitting to each jurisdiction remains your responsibility. That is not a small burden for a solo operator managing launches, content creation, and student support at the same time.

Teachable Payments, our native payment gateway, automatically calculates, collects, and remits VAT and GST across 45+ countries. No third-party tool is required and no filing responsibility falls on the creator. Teachable Payments also accepts payments in 130+ currencies, so international buyers pay in their own currency without separate pricing configuration. For any creator with meaningful international sales, that is tax compliance built into the platform subscription at a cost that Kajabi's current architecture does not match without adding Quaderno or TaxJar on top.

Teachable versus Kajabi: Where the cost gap is largest

The table below compares entry-level annual pricing, platform transaction fees, and tax handling across Kajabi and Teachable:

Our Builder plan at $69/month on annual billing is approximately 51.7% cheaper than Kajabi Basic at $143/month. It includes 0% platform fees, built-in affiliate tools, a native iOS and Android app on all plans, and automated VAT and GST remittance across 45+ countries through Teachable Payments. Kajabi matches on the 0% platform fee but requires third-party tools to reach the same tax compliance coverage, adding $29 to $39/month or more before filing costs are included.

If you're costing a platform decision right now, the right question is not "which plan is cheapest?" but "what does each platform cost per dollar of revenue at my current volume, including processing fees and any third-party tools I'd need to add?" For Kajabi, the honest answer depends on how much of that marketing suite you'll actually use.

Compare the full cost stack across our plans, including processing fees, at teachable.com/pricing. A 7-day trial is available with no sales call required, and a 30-day money-back guarantee applies after you commit.

FAQs

Does Kajabi charge transaction fees?

Kajabi charges 0% platform transaction fees on all plans, but you must still pay standard payment processing fees to Stripe or PayPal at 2.9% + $0.30 per US card transaction, with international cards adding 1.5% more. On a mixed international card base, processing typically costs 3% to 5% of gross revenue depending on your buyer geography. Our Builder plan at $69/month on annual billing also charges 0% platform fees and includes automated VAT and GST remittance across 45+ countries, at less than half the subscription cost of Kajabi Basic.

How do I calculate whether Kajabi is worth the cost?

Compare Kajabi's monthly subscription against the combined cost of the separate tools it replaces, specifically email marketing, funnels, and CRM. If you do not actively use those marketing tools, a dedicated course platform like our Builder plan at $69/month paired with a standalone email tool will typically cost less and offer more specialized functionality in each category.

What is the cheapest Kajabi plan?

Basic, at $143/month annually or $179/month monthly, is the cheapest plan generally available to new signups. Kajabi has previously offered a lower-cost entry tier with more selective availability, but it is not shown on the current public pricing page. The Basic plan supports a limited number of products, unlimited funnels and landing pages, and contact limits that most growing creators outgrow within a few months of a successful launch.

How much can I save with annual billing on Kajabi?

Annual billing saves you 20% compared to monthly billing across all plans. For example, the Growth plan drops from $249/month to $199/month on annual billing, saving $600 per year, but requires paying $2,388 upfront, so the saving comes with a cash flow trade-off.

Does Kajabi handle VAT or international sales tax automatically?

No. Kajabi does not natively apply VAT to your offers, though Kajabi's Sales Tax feature calculates and collects VAT and sales tax at checkout for sellers registered in Kajabi Payments-eligible countries, and filing and remitting to each jurisdiction remains the seller's responsibility. That's the same footprint as Kajabi Payments generally. Creators outside those markets or selling broadly internationally must configure tax rates manually or add a third-party tool like Quaderno starting at $29/month for the Hobby plan or TaxJar starting at $39/month to handle collection and reporting. Teachable Payments, our native payment gateway, calculates, collects, and remits VAT and GST across 45+ countries automatically with no third-party tool required and no filing responsibility left with the creator.

Key terms

Platform fee: A percentage of each sale charged by the course platform itself, separate from payment processing fees. Kajabi charges 0% on all plans when using Kajabi Payments. We charge 7.5% on the Starter plan and 0% from Builder upward.

Payment processing fee: The per-transaction fee charged by a payment gateway such as Stripe or PayPal. The standard Stripe rate is 2.9% + $0.30 for US card transactions, rising to 4.4% + $0.30 when the buyer uses a non-US card.

VAT (value-added tax): A consumption tax applied to digital product sales in countries including EU member states, the UK, and Australia. Responsibility for collecting and remitting VAT falls on the seller unless the platform handles it natively.

Annual billing: Paying the full year's subscription cost upfront in exchange for a reduced effective monthly rate. Kajabi's annual discount is 20% across all plans, but the full amount is charged at the start of the billing period.

Teachable Payments: Our native payment gateway, included on all plans, which automatically calculates, collects, and remits VAT and GST across 45+ countries, removing the creator from the tax filing loop entirely.

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TL;DR: Choosing a digital product platform on subscription price alone costs you money. At $5,000/month in revenue, Gumroad's reportedly 10% transaction fee takes $500 before payment processing. Our Builder plan at $69/month on annual billing removes the platform fee entirely and remits VAT and GST across 45+ countries automatically via Teachable Payments. The break-even between Gumroad and our Builder plan lands at approximately $690/month in sales, assuming an average sale price of $50. Calculate your full fee stack before you commit: subscription cost, platform transaction fee, card processing (2.9% + $0.30 for US cards, 3.9% + $0.30 for international cards), and currency conversion (0.95% for non-USD transactions via Stripe).

A 10% transaction fee sounds manageable when you're making $100 a month, but at $5,000 a month you're handing over $500 every single month to a platform that doesn't file your taxes. This guide leads with the math, not the marketing, and compares real take-home pay across the six most common platforms so you can choose the most profitable home for your PDFs, templates, courses, and coaching programs.

Which plan fits your situation?

Answer four questions to find the right starting point before running any fee math.

1. Do you already have an email list or social audience? (Yes / No)
2. Are any of your buyers located outside the US? (Yes / No)
3. Is your target monthly revenue above $533? (Yes / No)
4. Do you want to file your own VAT and GST returns? (Yes / No)

Yes to questions 2 and 3, and No to question 4: model our Builder plan first. Pre-revenue or targeting under $500/month from a local audience: the Starter plan's lower entry cost holds while you validate demand.

Platform fee comparison: Your net profit breakdown

Think of your platform cost like a receipt, not a subscription. The headline monthly fee is the sticker price at the top, but transaction fees, payment processing charges, and currency conversion costs are the line items at the bottom. The receipt only makes sense when every line is visible before you sign up.

Fixed monthly platform fees

Subscription costs vary considerably across the platforms worth comparing:

Our Builder plan removes the platform transaction fee entirely at $69/month on annual billing and adds affiliate tools. That's $74/month less than Kajabi's cheapest public plan, Basic at $143/month on annual billing, with a headline card processing rate of 2.9% + $0.30 on the Basic plan, though Kajabi's own help center documents an additional 0.7% surcharge on subscription and payment-plan transactions and 1.5% on international cards, pushing the effective rate to approximately 3.6% + $0.30 for creators selling memberships or to international buyers.

Monthly billing on our platform costs approximately 22% more than annual rates. All break-even calculations in this guide assume annual billing.

How per-sale fees eat your revenue

Think of the Starter plan or Gumroad like renting versus buying: the lower upfront cost makes sense early on, but past a revenue threshold, the per-sale percentage costs more than a flat subscription. On our annual billing, Starter and Builder break even at $533/month in course revenue. At that level, the 7.5% fee on Starter equals the $40/month cost difference to upgrade to Builder, so every dollar above $533 is cheaper to earn on Builder. For Gumroad versus Builder, the break-even lands at approximately $690/month, where Gumroad's reportedly 10% fee begins to exceed Builder's $69/month flat cost.

Merchant fees on digital sales

Platform fees are only one layer. Payment processing costs stack on top of transaction fees on every plan across every platform. Stripe's standard US rate is 2.9% + $0.30 per card transaction. International cards issued outside the US add a 1% cross-border fee, bringing the effective rate to 3.9% + $0.30. Stripe currency conversion adds approximately 0.95% for non-USD transactions, which Teachable shows separately for visibility. On a $100 sale to a UK buyer using a UK-issued card, expect to pay $4.20 in processing fees (3.9% + $0.30) plus $0.95 in currency conversion if you're pricing in USD.

Calculate your net profit per sale

The table below shows real take-home pay at three revenue tiers, assuming 10 sales at $50/sale ($500 tier), 40 sales at $50/sale ($2,000 tier), and 200 sales at $50/sale ($10,000 tier). Processing fees use Stripe's 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction.

At $500/month, Builder produces slightly lower take-home pay than Gumroad by $19, but past $690/month, Builder's 0% platform fee produces higher take-home every month. At $10,000/month, Builder produces $931 more in take-home pay than Gumroad's transaction model, and that gap widens as revenue grows.

Marketplace vs. self-hosted: Platform breakdown

Our pricing and transaction fees

Our current plans on annual billing run from $29/month (Starter, 7.5% transaction fee, 5 products) to $69/month (Builder, 0% transaction fee, 10 products) to $139/month (Growth, 0% transaction fee, 50 products), students are unlimited on every plan. Creators outgrowing Growth's 50-product cap can contact sales about a Custom plan, per our pricing page, for sellers doing more than $12,000/year.

"It is a great platform that provides courses on how to create, design, and sell online courses. It is a great learning tool that is easy to use and helps me easily create, design, and sell my courses on the web." - Barathkumaar R. on G2

Gumroad: Fee structure and take-home pay

Gumroad reportedly charges 10% per sale with no monthly subscription. That reportedly zero-dollar monthly entry point makes Gumroad worth considering if you're making under $100/month and want to test whether your product sells before committing to a platform fee. Past $690/month in revenue, however, Gumroad's fee model costs more than Teachable Builder's flat $69/month. At $5,000/month, Gumroad reportedly takes roughly $500 in platform fees alone, compared to Builder's $69.

Since January 2025, Gumroad operates as a Merchant of Record and collects sales tax, VAT, and GST globally, which removes the tax filing burden, but its transaction fees scale infinitely against you and its course delivery tools are far shallower than our gradebook, compliance settings, and watch-time enforcement.

Podia: Fee structure and take-home pay

Podia's Mover plan runs $42/month on annual billing with a 5% transaction fee, while Shaker reportedly runs around $84/month on annual billing with 0% fees. Podia's Mover plan caps products at 50 and Shaker at 150, both higher than our 5-product Starter cap and 10-product Builder cap, which is a relevant difference for creators selling large digital download catalogs. That said, Podia reportedly lacks graded quizzes and interactive assignments compared to us, and it has no native mobile app at any tier. We include iOS and Android apps on every plan, giving students app-based access with offline playback rather than a mobile browser experience.

Kajabi: Pricing and fee structure

Kajabi's Basic plan starts at $143/month on annual billing and includes a built-in email funnel builder and CRM. We don't include a native CRM, but we integrate with dedicated email platforms through our paid plan integrations, while keeping the deeper course-delivery tooling (gradebook, minimum watch-time enforcement, per-student progress tracking) that Kajabi doesn't match at the same price point.

Kajabi's Basic plan at $143/month on annual billing is 107% more expensive than our Builder plan's $69/month, with a headline card processing rate of 2.9% + $0.30 on the Basic plan. Kajabi's own help center documents an additional 0.7% on subscription and payment-plan transactions and 1.5% on international cards, so creators running memberships or selling globally should model the effective rate of approximately 3.6% + $0.30 before comparing plans.

Payhip: Fee structure for new creators

Payhip's free forever plan carries a 5% transaction fee with no monthly cost, making it a low-friction entry point for selling basic digital downloads like PDFs and templates. Its Plus plan at $29/month drops the fee to 2%, and its Pro plan at $99/month removes it entirely. Payhip automatically collects and remits EU VAT and UK VAT on your behalf.

Per Payhip's own help center, it acts as a marketplace facilitator in the US and as a digital platform operator in Canada. Either way, it does not match our Teachable Payments' 45+ country remittance coverage. Payhip supports tax-inclusive pricing as an option. Payhip's student management and course delivery tools also fall short of our structured learning features for creators building beyond single-file downloads.

SendOwl: Pricing and revenue impact

SendOwl's Launch plan reportedly charges $39/month with 0% transaction fees but caps annual sales at $10,000, which limits its usefulness once a product catalog grows. It handles file delivery efficiently for templates and downloadable assets, but it offers no structured student learning portal. SendOwl assists with EU VAT calculation and collection but does not automatically remit taxes globally like a full Merchant of Record, so international tax filing stays largely with the creator.

Key features for growing your creator revenue

Real take-home pay after all fees

A creator in the UK selling a $100 product to US buyers via our Builder plan on annual billing keeps roughly $96.80 per sale after Stripe's 2.9% + $0.30 processing fee, with no platform fee. The same sale on Gumroad leaves $86.80 after the reportedly 10% platform fee and $2.90 + $0.30 in Stripe processing, before any international card surcharges.

Managing email lists and automations

We don't include a built-in email funnel builder or CRM. Creators who need one typically connect a dedicated email platform through our integrations, keeping the course-delivery depth that goes further than all-in-one platforms at the same price. Dedicated email platforms connect through native integrations and Zapier, both available from the Builder plan up.

Who owns your audience data

Your email list is the one business asset that doesn't change when a platform restructures its pricing or an algorithm shifts. On marketplace platforms, the platform controls the customer relationship. With us, you own the student data, email addresses, and transaction history outright and can export everything at any time. Creators who've built audiences inside marketplace ecosystems often discover they can't take that list with them when they switch. With us, the student database is yours from day one.

Mobile checkout and native app access

We include native iOS and Android apps on every plan, giving students app-based learning with offline playback and automatic progress sync. Thinkific charges $199/month as a separate add-on for its branded mobile app, and Thinkific sits around 2/5 on Trustpilot. Podia has no native app at any tier. For creators whose students consume content on mobile, the app question translates directly into completion rates and student satisfaction.

Automatic tax compliance for global creators

If you sell a single PDF to a student in Germany, you owe VAT to the German government from your very first sale. Non-EU sellers face no minimum threshold: EU VAT applies from the first cross-border transaction. Filing manually means registering for VAT in each relevant country, calculating tax by jurisdiction each quarter, filing returns in local currencies, and retaining audit documentation for years across multiple jurisdictions. Missing a quarterly deadline in Italy carries penalties of 25% of VAT due, and missing a UK payment triggers 7.75% late-payment interest from day one.

VAT and sales tax remittance comparison

Teachable Payments automatically calculates, collects, and remits sales tax, VAT, and GST across 45+ countries, including the US, EU, UK, Canada, and Australia, removing you from the filing loop entirely. Kajabi leaves VAT filing to the creator on standard plans, as confirmed in Kajabi's own help documentation. It supports tax-inclusive pricing so the number your students see is what they pay, taxes included.

Managing US sales tax obligations

US sales tax nexus rules require sellers to collect and remit state sales tax once they cross economic thresholds in individual states. The rules vary by state, apply to digital products in many jurisdictions, and change regularly. Teachable Payments calculates and remits US sales tax automatically on your behalf, so you never track nexus thresholds or file state returns. Eligibility requirements and supported countries for Teachable Payments are detailed in the Help Center.

How to reach your first sale in hours

The gap between "platform chosen" and "first payment received" is where most creators stall. Setup complexity is measured in lost launch momentum, and every hour between signing up and going live is an hour during which audience attention drifts.

Payment account verification delays

Standard payment gateways typically require KYC (Know Your Customer) identity verification and payout account linking before you can accept a single payment. This process can delay revenue acceptance by days or weeks depending on the gateway's review queue. With Teachable Payments, the onboarding is built into the Teachable signup flow, reducing the configuration steps required before your checkout is live.

Setup steps to reach your first sale

The workflow from signup to live, purchasable product follows five steps on Teachable:

1. Create your account: Sign up at teachable.com and start your 7-day trial. No developer setup required.
2. Upload your product: Drag and drop your content files into the Course Builder. Video and file hosting are built in with no third-party platform needed.
3. Set your price: Choose one-time purchase, payment plan, or subscription. Coupon codes, order bumps, and one-click upsells are available on all plans.
4. Enable Teachable Payments: Complete the payment onboarding to accept credit cards and activate automated tax remittance.
5. Share your checkout link: Send the direct checkout URL to your email list or social audience. No full storefront build-out required before your first sale.

Testing your payment flow for success

Run a test transaction before you send your checkout link to a warm audience. Verify the checkout completes, confirm your email integration fires the welcome sequence, and check that your digital product file downloads correctly. A broken checkout during a 48-hour launch window is a business emergency with no recovery window, and a test transaction run the day before launch catches it before it costs you real revenue.

Fee math, tax coverage, and platform stability compared

Calculate your true earnings per sale

A creator selling a $100 digital download at 100 sales per month ($10,000 revenue) on Gumroad reportedly pays $1,000 in platform fees (reportedly 10% × $10,000) plus approximately $320 in Stripe processing. Total cost: roughly $1,320. Switching to our Builder plan at $69/month with 0% platform fees reduces total cost to approximately $389 ($69 subscription plus $320 processing). The monthly saving is approximately $931, and it comes with automated VAT remittance across 45+ countries and native iOS and Android app delivery for students.

"The best part about Teachable is definitely its ease of use. No special coding knowledge required, everything is pretty drag and drop. We're able to upload videos and PDFs and add things like quizzes and text to each lesson." - Verified user on G2

Handle global VAT automatically

Teachable Payments removes the creator from quarterly VAT filing, country-by-country registration, and audit documentation for every international sale. No comparable platform in this price range matches our coverage across 45+ countries. For any creator with students in the EU, UK, Canada, or Australia, the automated remittance alone justifies modeling us against alternatives. Our payments page details exactly which countries are covered.

Platform reliability and compliance credentials

We are SOC 2 Type II certified, audited annually, and GDPR and CCPA compliant. These are verifiable third-party validations that matter when selling to buyers in regulated industries or when enterprise clients ask about platform security before committing to a program. Run this launch readiness checklist the day before your go-live:

• Run a test transaction on your checkout page to confirm payments process end-to-end.
• Verify your email integration is syncing new buyers to your list automatically.
• Confirm your digital product files are fully uploaded and downloadable without errors.
• Set up an order bump or one-click upsell to increase average order value per transaction.
• Check that your support contact info is visible on your school homepage so students can reach you.

Full student data ownership

Every student email address, transaction record, and enrollment history on our platform belongs to you and is exportable at any time. If you ever move platforms, your entire student database moves with you. Creators on the Custom plan access white-glove migration assistance and a dedicated success manager for larger catalog transfers. Student data ownership is not a peripheral benefit: it's the reason your email list stays a fully owned asset regardless of what any platform does next with its pricing or terms.

Run the fee math for your expected revenue volume before choosing a plan: teachable.com/pricing. Or start a 7-day trial and build your first product before committing.

FAQs

How do I calculate my actual take-home pay per sale?

Subtract the platform transaction fee (7.5% on Teachable Starter, 0% on Builder), the payment processing fee (2.9% + $0.30 for US cards via Stripe), and any applicable international card fee (an additional 1% cross-border charge for cards issued outside the US via Teachable Payments) from your product price. If you're selling internationally with currency conversion, add approximately 0.95% on top.

Do we handle VAT and GST for you?

Yes. If you use Teachable Payments, we automatically calculate, collect, and remit VAT and GST across 45+ countries and US sales tax across US states, as confirmed in our payments documentation. You're completely removed from the tax filing loop for covered jurisdictions.

Can I migrate my digital products and student list to us from another platform?

Yes. You can export your student list and upload your product files directly into our Course Builder. Creators on the Custom plan get white-glove migration assistance from a dedicated success manager for larger catalogs.

At what revenue level does it make sense to upgrade from Starter to Builder?

On our annual billing, the break-even point is $533/month in course revenue. At that level, the Starter plan's 7.5% transaction fee ($40) equals the $40/month cost of upgrading to Builder. Above $533/month, Builder produces higher take-home pay.

What payment methods does our checkout support?

Teachable Payments accepts credit cards. PayPal is available on one-time purchases but not on recurring payment options when an order bump is applied or when a first-payment-only coupon is applied. Standard card processing via Teachable Payments runs at 2.9% + $0.30 for US cards and 3.9% + $0.30 for international cards, per our current pricing page.

Key terms glossary

Platform transaction fee: The percentage a platform takes from each sale, on top of payment processing. Our Starter plan charges 7.5%, Builder and Growth charge 0%.

Payment processing fee: The fee charged by the payment processor (Stripe or PayPal) to move money. Stripe's standard US rate is 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction.

Cross-border fee: Stripe adds 1% for cards issued outside the US via Teachable Payments, bringing the effective rate to 3.9% + $0.30 for international card transactions.

Teachable Payments: Our native payment gateway that automatically calculates and remits VAT, GST, and US sales tax across 45+ countries, removing creators from the tax filing loop entirely.

Break-even point: The monthly revenue level at which upgrading to a higher plan costs the same as staying on a transaction-fee plan. For our Starter vs. Builder plans on annual billing, this is $533/month. For Gumroad vs. Builder, this is approximately $690/month.

Tax nexus: A legal connection between a seller and a tax jurisdiction that creates an obligation to collect and remit sales tax. US states each have their own nexus thresholds for digital products.

Order bump: A low-friction add-on offer shown on the checkout page before payment that increases average order value without requiring a separate sales page.

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TL;DR: Comparing course platforms on subscription price alone misses four fee layers: transaction fees, payment processing rates, international card surcharges, and currency conversion charges. Once you add all four, our Builder plan at $69/month (annual) is the cheapest way to get 0% platform fees paired with automatic VAT/GST remittance, no platform in this comparison combines both at a lower price. On subscription price alone, Thinkific Basic undercuts us at $40/month, but that comes with manual VAT filing on every international sale, a cost this guide breaks down below. Below $533/month in revenue on annual billing, our Starter plan's lower subscription price still wins the math, above it, upgrading to Builder costs less than the 7.5% transaction fee. Several platforms advertise 0% transaction fees but leave VAT and GST filing to you, adding either a third-party compliance cost or filing risk on international sales, Teachable Payments handles that remittance automatically, removing both the compliance cost and the filing burden.

Most course creators discover the real cost of their platform on the first payout statement, not the pricing page. The subscription fee is one line. The transaction percentage, card processing rate, international surcharge, and currency conversion fee are four more lines below it. Together they can reduce gross revenue by 5–20% or more depending on plan, volume, and international mix before you receive a single dollar.

This guide breaks down the complete fee stack across seven major platforms, shows the arithmetic for three distinct creator scenarios, and gives you the break-even formula to decide which plan actually costs less at your current revenue level.

The 4 hidden fees eroding your course revenue

Every platform charges across four distinct layers. Most comparison guides only show you layer one.

Fixed monthly platform access costs

The subscription is what you see on the pricing page and what most creators use to compare platforms. It is the most visible cost and, in most cases, the smallest one relative to revenue at any meaningful volume. Our Builder plan starts at $69/month on annual billing, which saves 22% versus the $89/month monthly rate. Kajabi's entry plan sits at $143/month on annual billing. Annual billing locks in savings for 12 months, which creates a forced upgrade cost if your student base grows faster than expected.

Hidden per-sale platform fees

Transaction fees are a percentage of every sale the platform charges on top of the subscription. Our Starter plan charges 7.5% per transaction. Our Builder plan charges 0% platform transaction fees. Other platforms vary in their transaction fee structures, with some charging 0% platform fees while others charge per-sale or per-enrollment fees.

Standard credit card processing rates

Payment processing fees apply on every plan across every platform, because the payment gateway charges them. Most Stripe-connected platforms charge a base rate starting around 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction for US cards, though rates vary by processor and country. Processing fees are not a meaningful differentiator between platforms, but they are consistently the largest single fee line at scale, which is why comparing only subscription prices misrepresents the real cost picture.

International sales and FX surcharges

This is where the fee stack diverges sharply between platforms and where most creators encounter the biggest surprise. Stripe charges an additional fee for international card transactions and a separate fee where currency conversion is required. International card processing typically runs higher than domestic rates, and currency conversion fees may apply where the payment processor performs a currency conversion. A UK creator processing $5,000 in mixed-currency sales faces a meaningfully different fee stack than a US creator selling domestically, and that difference compounds every month.

How Teachable's fee stack compares across platforms

Here is the complete fee stack across all seven platforms.

Table 1: Subscription, transaction fees, and VAT remittance

Table 2: Processing and FX fees

*Podia's and LearnWorlds' processing rates, and how Udemy's revenue share absorbs international/FX costs, are not published. Thinkific's international card fee runs +0.35% to +1.55% on top of the base rate depending on the card-issuing country, not a single flat surcharge. Check each platform's pricing page before you commit, since fees change without notice.

Skool Pro handles EU VAT automatically as a Merchant of Record, placing it in a different category than Kajabi or Thinkific on the tax remittance question for EU sales specifically, but its coverage doesn't extend to GST or non-EU jurisdictions.

And Udemy's revenue share depends on how the student found the course: creators keep 97% on instructor-referred sales (via their own link or coupon) and 37% on organic marketplace sales. Udemy's Business subscription payouts have also been declining: 25% in 2023, 20% in January 2024, 17.5% in January 2025, and 15% as of January 2026, a 40% reduction in three years.

What you actually keep: Teachable vs. alternatives across three creator scenarios

Calculating take-home for US creators

Scenario: $1,000/month in revenue, domestic US sales only, 10 sales at $100 per course.

*Fee calculations based on available data and standard processing assumptions. Actual fees may vary based on exact transaction structure and current platform pricing. Verify current rates on each platform's pricing page.

At $1,000/month in domestic US sales, Thinkific Basic's total fees ($72) and our Builder plan's ($101) both undercut Podia Mover (~$124), with Thinkific Basic's lower subscription giving it the edge on pure domestic fees at this volume. Our Starter plan's ~$136-145 is the outlier here, but we include automated VAT/GST remittance when using Teachable Payments, so the first sale to a student in Germany, Australia, or Canada removes any fee advantage a lower-subscription platform might otherwise hold, and adds either a third-party compliance service (typically $20-100/month depending on the tool and transaction volume) or the time and risk of manual filing across multiple jurisdictions to their total.

Scaling to $5K with global sales

Scenario: $5,000/month in revenue, 40% international ($2,000), 60% domestic US ($3,000), 50 total sales at $100 per course.

Our Builder plan:

• Subscription: $69
• Transaction fee: $0
• Domestic processing (30 sales): 2.9% x $3,000 + $0.30 x 30 = $87 + $9 = $96
• International processing (20 sales): 3.9% x $2,000 + $0.30 x 20 = $78 + $6 = $84
• VAT remittance: included with Teachable Payments
• Total fees: approximately $249. Take-home: approximately $4,751 (95.0%)

Note: Fee calculations are estimates based on standard processing assumptions. Actual fees may vary.

Kajabi Basic:

• Subscription: ~$143-179
• Transaction fee: $0 (0.7% surcharge on payment plans may apply)
• Domestic processing: ~$96
• International processing (estimated 4.4% x $2,000 + $6): ~$94
• VAT compliance (third-party tool, estimate): ~$37/month
• Total fees: approximately $370-406. Take-home: approximately $4,594-4,630

Thinkific Basic ($40/month annual):

• Subscription: $40
• Transaction fee: $0
• Domestic processing: ~$96
• International processing (Stripe standard estimated ~4.4% x $2,000 + $6): ~$94
• VAT compliance (third-party tool, estimate): ~$37/month
• Total fees: approximately $267. Take-home: approximately $4,733

Modeling payouts for UK-based creators

Scenario: UK creator, $5,000/month, all transactions treated as international from Stripe's perspective, 50 sales at $100.

Our Builder plan (UK creator):

• Subscription: $69
• Transaction fee: $0
• International card processing (estimated 3.9% x $5,000 + $0.30 x 50): ~$210
• FX conversion (estimated 0.95%, where conversion is required): ~$47.50
• VAT remittance: included with Teachable Payments
• Total fees: approximately $326.50. Take-home: approximately $4,673.50 (93.5%)

Kajabi Basic (UK creator):

• Subscription: ~$143-179
• International processing on Kajabi's Europe/UK schedule, non-EEA/UK cards (3.25% + €0.25 x 50 transactions): ~$176
• Currency conversion (2% on the Europe/UK schedule, not the 1% US rate): ~$100
• VAT compliance (third-party tool, estimate): ~$37
• Total fees: approximately $456-492. Take-home: approximately $4,508-4,544

Thinkific Basic (UK creator):

• Subscription: $40
• International processing (estimated ~4.4% x $5,000 + $15): ~$235
• FX conversion (estimated ~1%): ~$50
• VAT compliance (third-party tool, estimate): ~$37
• Total fees: approximately $362. Take-home: approximately $4,638

Our Builder plan comes out ahead in this scenario largely because of that built-in VAT remittance (via Teachable Payments), which removes the third-party compliance cost that both Kajabi and Thinkific creators have to add on top of their own totals.

When to upgrade from Teachable Starter to Builder

The Starter plan at $29/month annual is one of the lowest entry points among Kajabi, Thinkific, and Podia for a plan that includes checkout, payments, and automated tax remittance when using Teachable Payments. But the 7.5% transaction fee makes Starter the more expensive option once monthly revenue crosses a specific threshold.

The break-even formula

On annual billing, Builder costs $69/month versus Starter's $29/month, a gap of $40/month. The formula for finding the break-even point is:

• (Plan B monthly cost - Plan A monthly cost) / Plan A transaction fee % = Break-even monthly revenue

Applied to our annual billing:

• ($69 - $29) / 0.075 = $533/month

Applied to our monthly billing:

• ($89 - $39) / 0.075 = $667/month

Break-even thresholds

Annual billing break-even is $533/month. Monthly billing break-even is $667/month. Above either threshold, the 7.5% Starter fee costs more than upgrading to Builder. Run this formula against your own numbers before choosing a plan.

Think of it like rent versus ownership on your fee structure. The lower monthly cost on Starter makes sense early on, and once revenue passes the break-even point, every dollar above that threshold effectively pays the upgrade fee you chose not to make.

The break-even math settles which plan costs less at your current revenue level. At low volume, the $29 Starter subscription costs less than Builder. At $533/month on annual billing, the 7.5% transaction fee becomes the more expensive option, and the math favors upgrading.

Growing past your plan: Caps, integrations, and the upgrade path

Plan caps and tier-locked features

Our plan caps are specific: Starter allows 5 products and 100 students, Builder allows 10 products and 1,000 students, and Growth allows 50 products and 5,000 students. A creator who hits the 100-student cap on Starter mid-launch must stop enrolling or upgrade immediately, neither of which is in the original budget. Kajabi's Basic plan caps at 5 products and 2,500 contacts (which includes paid students, free leads, and one-time buyers). Podia Mover caps at 50 products and 100 email subscribers, with unlimited products available only on the Earthquaker plan at $150/month annual. Thinkific's student cap limits vary by plan and have been subject to change, check Thinkific's live pricing page for the current figures before making a plan decision.

The trade-off is direct: Thinkific's 0% transaction fee on Thinkific Payments comes with manual VAT filing on international sales, while our Builder plan bundles Teachable Payments' automatic VAT and GST remittance with 0% platform fees. A Thinkific creator's first international sale adds $20-100/month in third-party compliance tools, a cost our Builder plan avoids entirely. Our third-party integrations, including Zapier, are available from Builder upward, which means a Starter creator connecting to an email platform via Zapier must upgrade first and add that plan-upgrade cost to the break-even calculation.

The $10K cap removal, and what annual billing locks in

Annual billing saves 22% on our plans. A creator who signs up for Starter annual billing, hits the 100-student cap at month four, and needs to upgrade should factor upgrade timing into their planning. Model the upgrade cost before committing to annual billing, not after the cap is hit. One clause worth knowing: creators who reach $10,000/year in direct sales on our platform have their plan caps removed automatically, which means high-revenue creators on Growth can continue scaling without a forced upgrade to Custom. Our pricing page is the source to verify this clause before relying on it in your planning.

Which plan puts more in your pocket: Choosing by revenue tier

Under $533/month in domestic US sales

Our Starter plan at $29/month includes automated VAT/GST remittance when using Teachable Payments, which removes the third-party compliance cost or manual filing exposure that other platforms with lower subscription fees may require. The first sale to an international student changes the total cost comparison by adding either a third-party compliance service (typically $20-100/month depending on the tool and transaction volume) or manual filing exposure across multiple tax jurisdictions. At lower revenue volumes, whether our Starter plan or a lower-subscription alternative costs less depends entirely on your international sales mix.

$3,000-$5,000/month with meaningful international sales

Our Builder plan at $69/month annual with 0% platform fees and automated VAT/GST remittance when using Teachable Payments delivers strong economics at this revenue level. Once third-party tax compliance costs are factored into competitor totals, typically $20-100/month depending on the tool and transaction volume, Builder's built-in tax automation removes a recurring expense that platforms without native VAT handling require you to absorb separately.

Above $5,000/month: email and CRM needs

Our Builder plan at $69/month annual with 0% platform fees and built-in VAT remittance (when using Teachable Payments) remains the stronger economic case at this revenue level when compared to Kajabi's $143/month entry cost. We don't include a built-in email funnel or CRM. Creators who need those capabilities typically pair us with a dedicated email platform like ConvertKit or ActiveCampaign, and for many creators at this revenue level the cost of our Builder plan plus a $30-50/month email tool still comes in below Kajabi's entry subscription, while preserving the course-delivery depth, gradebook, compliance settings, and watch-time enforcement that goes further than all-in-one platforms at the same price.

Run the fee math for your expected revenue volume before choosing a plan. We offer a 7-day trial with a credit card, and we back it with a 30-day money-back guarantee. If you want to test the full checkout and payment flow before committing, start the 7-day trial and go from signup to a live, purchasable product without configuring a separate payment gateway or tax tool. For more on building and launching your first course, the online course design resources cover course structure, launch strategy, and student experience in depth.

FAQs

Are 0% transaction fee platforms free of per-sale costs?

No. Every platform passes through payment gateway processing fees on every transaction, and the specific rate depends on the processor and buyer location. The "0% transaction fee" refers only to the platform's own cut, not to the underlying card processor's charge, which typically starts at 2.9% + $0.30 for US cards and increases for international transactions.

Which course platform has the lowest total fees?

It depends on your revenue level and international sales mix. At lower revenue levels with domestic US sales only, some platforms may show lower total fees than our Starter plan, but our Starter plan includes automated VAT/GST remittance when using Teachable Payments that protects you from compliance costs the moment your first international sale happens. Above $533/month with any meaningful international volume, our Builder plan at $69/month annual with 0% platform fees and built-in tax remittance may be more cost-effective once third-party tax compliance costs are added to competitor totals.

How do installment payment plans affect my take-home pay?

Installment plans incur processing fees on each individual payment rather than one combined charge, adding the per-transaction flat fee to each installment. Kajabi adds a 0.7% surcharge on every recurring payment plan installment via Kajabi Payments. For a $997 course sold in three installments on Kajabi, that surcharge would add approximately $7 across the three payments on top of standard processing.

What is a platform transaction fee, and how is it different from a processing fee?

A platform transaction fee is a percentage of each sale charged by the course platform itself, separate from and in addition to what the payment processor charges. Teachable Starter's 7.5% is a platform transaction fee. The 2.9% + $0.30 is the payment processing fee charged by the gateway. Both apply on the Starter plan. Builder removes the platform transaction fee, but the processing fee remains on every plan.

Should I choose annual or monthly billing on Teachable?

Annual billing on our platform saves 22% versus monthly billing and locks in the lower rate for 12 months. The trade-off is that annual billing also locks in your plan caps for the full billing cycle. If your student base is growing quickly or you expect to add products, model the upgrade cost of hitting those caps mid-year before committing to annual billing. Monthly billing costs 22% more per month but preserves the flexibility to upgrade without losing prepaid months.

Key terms

Platform transaction fee: A percentage of each sale charged by the course platform itself, separate from and in addition to card processing fees. Our Starter plan charges 7.5%. Our Builder plan charges 0%.

Teachable Payments: Teachable's native payment gateway that automatically calculates, collects, and remits sales tax, VAT, and GST when used as the payment processor. Creators using Teachable Payments are removed from the tax filing loop entirely for covered jurisdictions.

FX conversion fee: A fee charged by payment processors where a transaction requires currency conversion between currencies. This fee is typically shown separately on payout statements for visibility.

Break-even revenue: The monthly revenue level at which the cost of a transaction fee on a lower plan equals the cost of upgrading to a higher plan. For our Starter plan vs. Builder on annual billing, the break-even is $533/month.

VAT remittance: The process of collecting, filing, and paying value-added tax to foreign tax authorities on behalf of the creator. We handle this automatically across 45+ countries when using Teachable Payments. Skool handles this as a Merchant of Record for EU VAT only. Other platforms may require manual filing or a third-party service.

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