How to Compare Online Course Platform Pricing and Fees

Online course platforms bill on two meters at once. A monthly subscription, and a percentage of every sale. The cheapest monthly plan is usually the one with the biggest cut, which means the right plan depends on your revenue, not your budget.

There is a third meter underneath both: the card processor. This note reads four pricing pages on October 23, 2026, separates the three charges, and works out where the cheaper plan stops being cheaper.

Separate the platform's cut from the card processor's cut

Teachable lists a 7.5 percent sales transaction fee on Starter and 0 percent on Builder, Growth and Custom. That is the platform's own cut, and it sits on top of payment processing.

Teachable prices processing separately: 2.9 percent plus 30 cents on US card sales, 3.9 percent plus 30 cents on international cards, 3.49 percent plus 49 cents on US PayPal and 4.99 percent plus 49 cents on international PayPal.

It also lists a $15 chargeback fee and an optional BackOffice fee of 2 to 2.8 percent. A US card sale on Starter therefore carries roughly 10.4 percent plus 30 cents in combined fees.

Podia uses the same two-layer model with different numbers: its Mover plan says 5 percent fees and both higher plans say no fees.

Kajabi and Thinkific publish no platform cut at all. Kajabi states no hidden fees and no revenue sharing, with Kajabi Payments at 2.9 percent plus $0.30 on Basic, 2.8 percent on Growth and 2.7 percent on Pro.

Thinkific's answer is shorter: its built-in processor is priced in line with Stripe and PayPal at 2.9 percent, and it notes third-party processors add a gateway fee that varies.

Find the sales figure where the bigger plan gets cheaper

Editorial calculation, using list prices as of October 23, 2026 and annual billing, counting only the platform's own cut and ignoring card processing, which applies either way:

• Teachable Starter: $29 a month billed annually = $348 a year, plus 7.5 percent of sales
• Teachable Builder: $69 a month billed annually = $828 a year, plus nothing
• The $480 annual gap divided by 7.5 percent = $6,400 of yearly sales, the point where Builder wins
• Podia Mover: $504 billed annually, plus 5 percent of sales
• Podia Shaker: $1,008 billed annually, plus nothing
• The $504 gap divided by 5 percent = $10,080 of yearly sales, the point where Shaker wins

At $60,000 a year in sales, Teachable Starter costs $348 plus $4,500, or $4,848. Builder costs $828. The entry plan is nearly six times more expensive at that volume.

Run the same division for your own numbers before you pick a tier. It is one subtraction and one division, and it is the only comparison on this page that changes the answer.

Percentage fees behave like metered usage, and they deserve the same attention as the counters in how to compare email marketing pricing by list size.

Kajabi and Thinkific charge more upfront and take no cut

Kajabi's annual rates are $143 a month on Basic, $199 on Growth and $399 on Pro, against monthly rates of $179, $249 and $499. The page prints annual savings of $432, $600 and $1,200.

Thinkific's annual rates are $82 a month on Start, $164 on Grow and $374 on Expand, against monthly rates of $109, $219 and $499, with savings of $330, $660 and $1,500.

At $60,000 a year in sales, Kajabi Basic costs $1,716 and Thinkific Start costs $984, with no platform cut on either. Both beat Teachable Starter and lose to Teachable Builder.

That is the whole trade. A flat fee is better once volume arrives and worse while you are starting, which is the same decision as choosing a billing model in how to read a help desk pricing page.

The limits that are not about money at all

Product counts cap what you can sell. Teachable allows 5 products on Starter, 10 on Builder and 50 on Growth. Kajabi allows 5, 50 and unlimited. Podia allows 50, 150 and unlimited. Thinkific states unlimited courses on every tier.

Admin seats are tighter than they look. Teachable includes 1 admin-level user on Starter and Builder and 5 on Growth. Thinkific includes 2, 6 and 15, counting the site owner. Kajabi includes 2, 11 and 26.

Podia lists 1 assistant on Shaker and unlimited assistants on Earthquaker, with no assistant on Mover. Thin seat allowances reshape small teams the way they do in what per-agent pricing means when agents are part-time.

Contact and subscriber ceilings are the quietest limit of the four. Kajabi allows 2,500 contacts on Basic, 25,000 on Growth and 100,000 on Pro, and sells extra blocks of 25,000 at $125 a month.

Podia caps email subscribers at 100 on Mover, 500 on Shaker and 1,000 on Earthquaker. For a business that sells through a mailing list, 100 subscribers is a ceiling on revenue, not on features.

Thinkific states 10,000 students on Start, Grow and Expand. Student capacity, unlike subscriber capacity, is the same across its three published tiers.

Teachable lists video storage of up to 1 TB on all three published plans. That is an allowance rather than a feature, and it behaves like the ones priced in how to compare cloud storage pricing for a small team.

Check the trial, the add-ons and the fine print

Teachable lists a 7-day free trial and a 30-day guarantee on all three published plans, and adds a note inviting sellers above $12,000 a year to contact sales for special conditions.

Thinkific sells a branded mobile app as a $199 a month add-on, included on select Plus plans. Kajabi describes a branded mobile app as included and values it at $199 a month, and values API access at $25 a month.

Kajabi also meters AI credits by plan at 0, 500 and 1,000, with top-ups at $15 a month for 500. Credit systems like this are priced the way the ones in what AI add-ons cost in small business tools are.

Podia prints only yearly rates on its plan cards and states that no credit card is needed until you are ready, so the monthly-billing equivalents were not readable on October 23, 2026.

Bottom line

Write down your expected sales for the next twelve months, then divide the annual price gap between two tiers by the percentage fee on the lower one. Below that figure, take the cut. Above it, pay the subscription.

For a business under about $6,400 a year in course sales, Teachable Starter at $29 a month billed annually is the cheapest total on this page. Above roughly $10,000, Podia Shaker and Thinkific Start both come in under $1,100 a year.

Then check the three caps that are not priced per sale: products, admin seats and contacts. The $125 a month Kajabi charges for another 25,000 contacts can exceed the subscription itself.

And budget card processing separately, because every platform here charges it on top. Fees that stack like that are worth tracking in the books, as in how to compare small business accounting software pricing.

Frequently asked questions

Does Teachable take a percentage of sales?

On the Starter plan, yes: 7.5 percent, as of October 23, 2026. Builder, Growth and Custom list 0 percent. Payment processing is separate on every plan, at 2.9 percent plus 30 cents on US card sales.

At what revenue should you leave Teachable Starter?

About $6,400 a year in sales, by editorial calculation. Builder costs $480 a year more than Starter on annual billing, and $480 divided by the 7.5 percent fee is $6,400. Above that, Builder is cheaper overall.

Which course platform has no transaction fee?

Kajabi and Thinkific publish no platform cut, and Podia lists no fees on Shaker and Earthquaker. All of them still charge card processing, which Kajabi lists at 2.9 to 2.7 percent plus $0.30 and Thinkific at 2.9 percent.

How much is Kajabi a month?

Basic is $143 a month on annual billing or $179 monthly, Growth is $199 or $249, and Pro is $399 or $499, as of October 23, 2026. The page lists annual savings of $432, $600 and $1,200 respectively.

How many admin users do these plans include?

Teachable includes 1 on Starter and Builder and 5 on Growth. Thinkific includes 2, 6 and 15, counting the site owner. Kajabi includes 2, 11 and 26. Podia includes no assistant on Mover and 1 on Shaker.

Is there a limit on students or subscribers?

Thinkific states 10,000 students on all three published plans. Kajabi caps contacts at 2,500, 25,000 and 100,000, with extra blocks of 25,000 at $125 a month. Podia caps email subscribers at 100, 500 and 1,000.