Teachable might be the most recognized name in the online course industry, and its pricing may have something to do with it!
They have taken a big chunk of the market with more than 100,000 users (according to their website), and positioned themselves on the “affordable” end of the market.
That can be explained by a few things, one being the limited but relevant set of features you’ll get, and the sheer scale they’ve been able to have.
But is Teachable pricing really that affordable? And what exactly do you get for that?
That’s what we’re breaking down in this article to shed light on each plan and how they compare with other popular online course platforms.
Teachable Pricing Overview
Over the past few years and after having been acquired, Teachable pricing has changed quite a few times, so let’s start by taking a look at its latest pricing table:
So to recap, the main plans are the following:
- Free Plan - $1 + 10% per transaction
- Basic Plan – $39/month ($29/mo paid annually)
- Pro Plan – $119/month ($99/mo paid annually)
- Business Plan – $299/month ($249/mo paid annually)
Note here that Teachable does not have a free trial anymore but instead re-introduce a free plan.
We’ll look at some specific examples of how this pricing compares to other popular online course platforms later, but Teachable has been increasing their prices in the past few years which has rendered them not as competitive as it used to be…
But this also meant new added features! Check out our full Teachable review to learn more.
Let’s break down exactly what you get for each plan:
Now, let’s look into each of these a little more closely:
Teachable Free Plan
This is the entry point for you to test around the platform and get started selling your courses!
There are only a few features you won't have access to on this plan so it's a great place to start.
Some of these that might be crucial from the start are the ability to drip your course's content and to use a custom domain (instead of the default Teachable one)
The obvious bigger downside is the significant fee you'll pay for each sale...
If you start making a reasonable number of sales, you'll know it's time to upgrade!
Teachable Basic Plan
The very first thing that we notice with the basic plan is the 5% transaction fee. Which means that on every sale, Teachable will take 5% on top of the processing fee you’ll pay to Stripe or Paypal.
Here are other things to notice you won’t have on the Basic plan:
- Affiliate Marketing system
- Upsells
- Teaching tools: graded quiz, certificate of completion,
- Unbranded site
The main thing you’ll be able to do on this plan is to create unlimited courses and coaching programs (free and paid), load them up and deliver them in the most basic form.
Who is it for: This plan is great if you’re just wanting to get your feet wet and the most affordable way to get started with Teachable and selling your online courses.Teachable Pro Plan
A noticeable price jump takes us from the Basic plan to the Pro plan!
This is the most popular pricing package, simply because that’s when things get interesting and you get to experience everything Teachable has to offer.
The transaction fee goes away and everything previously mentioned in the Basic plan limitation are now available!
Including: Upsells, Affiliate marketing, course compliance, better support (live chat), Zapier integration, advanced reports,...
Note that at $99/mo (billed annually), Teachable can’t really be considered to be in the more affordable end of the spectrum of the online course industry.
Who is it for: This is for more serious course creators for whom the transaction fee is getting expensive and need a more well-rounded and integrated package, as well as a better student experience and learning tools.
Teachable Business Plan
Getting the Business Plan will also feel like a steep price difference from the previous tier!
There are a few extra features you’ll get:
- Extra admin users and roles (up to 20)
- The ability to bulk import students
- Advanced customization
You’ll also get group coaching calls with the customer success team to help you strategize how to use the platforms to sell your courses.
Who is it for: This probably may not be a great fit for most course creators as most of these added features might be an overkill, and this caters more to corporate users needing extra bells and whistles to integrate the platform to their current systems.How Does Teachable Pricing Compare with Competitors?
Teachable belongs to the standalone online course platforms, different from the all-in-one platforms like Kajabi, Kartra, Podia or New Zenler.
This is important to note here before getting into some specific pricing comparison because you’ll get what you pay for!
All-in-one platforms do a lot more than just delivering an online course but also include funnel building, and an email marketing system, which Teachable does not have.
That being said, let’s take a look at the top 3 Teachable competitors pricing:
How does Teachable Pricing compare to Thinkific?
These are probably the most comparable of the bunch!
Thinkific is also a standalone online course platform with a rather similar set of features as Teachable.
You can see our full Teachable vs Thinkific comparison here
This translates into very similar pricing packages between Teachable and Thinkific.
A few extra points go to Thinkific for 0% transaction fees and a forever-free plan. (see more about Thinkific pricing)Thinkific offers a Free Plan and 3 other pricing plans:
- Free (no transaction fee)
- Basic – $39/month billed annually (or $49 paid monthly)
- Pro – $79/month billed annually(or $99 paid monthly)
- Premier – $399/month billed annually(or $499 paid monthly)
Thinkific also has a 30 day money back guarantee on all plans, since there is no free trial apart from the free plan.
How does Teachable Pricing compare to Kajabi?
Kajabi and Teachable are probably the most recognized online course platforms in the industry, so comparing their pricing is relevant!
However, Kajabi is an all-in-one, and as mentioned before has a lot more to offer feature-wise than Teachable, if that’s what you’re looking for.
You can see our full Kajabi vs Teachable comparison here.
Kajabi offers a 14 days trial and 3 plans:
- Basic Plan – $149/month ($119/mo paid annually)
- Growth Plan – $199/month ($159/mo paid annually)
- Pro Plan – $399/month ($319/mo paid annually)
Is it looking more expensive? Yes but only in appearance, if you factor in the cost of a website/funnel builder and email marketing tool, you can easily see how Kajabi isn't doing so badly in a direct pricing comparison with Teachable.
To learn more about Kajabi pricing, see our article here.How does Teachable Pricing compare to New Zenler?
New Zenler has a similar positioning and image as Teachable for being an “affordable” platform. The biggest difference here is that New Zenler does not hold back on features!
See our Teachable vs New Zenler comparison to understand the feature difference!
It includes everything an all-in-one has to offer for a relatively low price tag during its beta stage:
It’s pricing plans are very simple:
New Zenler offers a Free Beta and 2 pricing plans:
- Pro plan - $447 per year (full price will be $1170/year) OR $67 per month
- Premium - $1167 per year (full price will be $5970/year) OR $197 per month
New Zenler does seem like a much cheaper option at first glance then, but there are some things to understand about its pricing.
Note that Teachable is also a much more mature platform than New Zenler with a bigger community of fellow users.
Teachable Pricing – What’s the Best Plan for You?
Understanding how each plan breaks down and comparing it to other online course platforms has hopefully helped you get a better understanding about Teachable pricing!
But now what?
I think that very beginners will probably have a hard time with the Pro plan’s investment, especially since they will need other tools to pay for like a website builder and email marketing system.
An easy to know when to upgrade to the Pro plan could just be based on the transaction fee:
There is a $70 difference on the annual plans between Basic and Pro, the transaction fee is 5%
So if your monthly course sales exceed $1400 (70/0.05) then upgrading is a no-brainer!
Note: This translates to $1600 on the monthly plans.
For more established course creators however, the Pro plan might be the only viable option anyway if they need to take advantage of the affiliate marketing program or be able to integrate Teachable with other tools via Zapier.
Teachable Pricing FAQs:
If you’ve skipped to this section or still had some specific questions that we haven’t answered yet, here are the most frequently asked questions about Teachable pricing
Is there a free plan with Teachable?
Yes, Teachable has re-introduce a Free plan with a $1 + 10% transaction fee.
Is there a transaction fee?
Yes, but only on the Basic and Free plan.
It’s a 5% fixed fee on any sales you make on the Basic plan
And a $1 + 10% on the Free plan.
Do I need to pay for anything else, any hidden costs?
Not on the Teachable end, but you’ll still need to pay a processing fee from the payment gateway (Stripe or Paypal) which will vary depending on your business.
On top of that, as a course creator you may also need to use an external platform for website building and email marketing.
How do I start a free Teachable trial?
Teachable pricing page does make this that easy!
Head over to Teachable’s homepage and enter your email address before hitting “Get Started”
[image: teachable get started]
This will get you started on the account creating process without any card required, and start your 14 free trial on the Pro plan.
Note that you can’t have a free trial on any other plans at the moment!
