Teachable Review: What Each Plan Costs at $500 and $2,000 a Month in Sales

Is Teachable worth it on a small budget, and how much of your first sales goes to fees? That's the question behind most Teachable review searches, and it deserves a straight answer with numbers.

Here it is. Teachable's plans run from $39 to $189 a month on monthly billing. Starter is the cheapest way in and has a 7.5% transaction fee on each sale. Builder ($89) and Growth ($189) have 0% transaction fees with Teachable Payments.

Below: what each plan costs at $500 and $2,000 a month in sales (math shown), what each plan includes, the student fees worth knowing about, and who should look elsewhere.

Quick verdict

1. 1

   Teachable Best for course sellers who want student apps

   Starter $39/mo; Builder $89/mo (monthly billing)

   iOS and Android student apps and sales tax, VAT and GST handling on every plan, with 0% transaction fees from Builder.

   See Teachable plans →Read our notes ↓
2. 2

   Systeme.io Best on a $0–$17 budget

   Free plan; paid from $17/mo

   Funnels, email and a course in one account, with no Systeme.io transaction fees.

   Start Systeme.io free →Read our notes ↓

Prices checked Oct 2026. Plans change, so please confirm on each vendor's site.

On this page

1. Teachable review in 60 seconds
2. Teachable plans and prices
3. How we reviewed Teachable
4. What Teachable costs at $500 and $2,000 a month
5. Student fees and usage fees
6. Teachable features, walked through
7. Pros and cons
8. Who Teachable fits, and who should look elsewhere
9. Teachable alternatives
10. How to choose a Teachable plan
11. FAQ
12. The bottom line

Teachable review in 60 seconds

• What it is: a course platform that also sells coaching, digital downloads and memberships, with its own checkout and student apps.
• Plans: Starter $39, Builder $89 and Growth $189 a month on monthly billing, or $29, $69 and $139 a month billed yearly. Custom is "Contact sales".
• Fees: Starter has a 7.5% transaction fee. Builder, Growth and Custom have 0% transaction fees with Teachable Payments. Card processing applies on every plan.
• Free plan: none. Teachable calls itself "a paid service that includes a 7-day free trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee."
• Good fit: solo creators selling one to ten products whose students often learn on their phones, or who sell to buyers in several countries.
• Look elsewhere if: your budget is close to $0, you plan to give away a large free course, or you need a big built-in email and funnel setup.

Teachable plans and prices

Teachable

Best for: Course sellers who want student apps and tax handling

From $39/mo · Builder $89/mo

Free plan

No (7-day trial + 30-day money-back guarantee)

Transaction fee

7.5% on Starter, 0% from Builder

Products

5 / 10 / 50 by plan

Student apps

iOS and Android on every plan

Skip it if: you need a $0 start, want many small products on a low plan, or plan to enroll hundreds of free students.

See Teachable plans →Opens teachable.com · affiliate link

Here's how the three self-serve plans compare, based on Teachable's pricing page.

Prices shown are at the time of our last check. Please confirm on the official pricing page before you buy.

A few notes on the table:

• Every plan card lists "Create with AI", student apps, "global payments and taxes", and "upsells and cart recovery".
• Builder adds the affiliate program and what Teachable calls "real-time support", plus the 0% transaction fee.
• Growth adds course certificates, branding removal, custom admin permissions, and "free subtitles and translations".
• Custom (contact sales) adds a dedicated success manager, a sandbox school, "automated international tax handling" and migration assistance.

Teachable's headline says yearly billing is "22% OFF". Using the listed prices, Builder works out to about 22% and Starter and Growth to about 26%.

How we reviewed Teachable

This is a research-based review. We read Teachable's pricing page, its help-center articles on plans, payments and checkout, and its legal usage-fee page, then worked out what each plan costs at two realistic sales levels. We didn't run a paid school for this review, and we don't publish star ratings we can't back up.

We judged Teachable on real monthly cost at your sales level, transaction and student fees, what each plan includes, trial terms, and who it fits. Our full method is on how we review.

What Teachable costs at $500 and $2,000 a month

The plan price is only part of the monthly bill. On Starter, the 7.5% transaction fee scales with your sales.

Math basis: plan price + Teachable's transaction fee on sales. Card processing is shown separately below, because it applies on every plan.

The working:

• Starter at $500: 7.5% × $500 = $37.50. Add $39 and you get $76.50.
• Starter at $2,000: 7.5% × $2,000 = $150. Add $39 and you get $189, the same as Growth's monthly price.
• Builder: $89 at any sales level, because the transaction fee is 0%.

Where Builder becomes the lower-cost plan

On monthly billing, Builder costs $50 more than Starter. The 7.5% fee reaches $50 at $50 ÷ 0.075 = about $667 a month in sales. Above that, Builder costs less in total.

On yearly billing, the gap is $40 ($69 − $29), so the point is $40 ÷ 0.075 = about $533 a month.

Adding card processing

Teachable lists processing at 2.9% + 30¢ for US cards and 3.9% + 30¢ for international cards. Here's what you'd keep on US card sales of a $50 course:

Processing at $500 is 2.9% × $500 = $14.50, plus 10 × $0.30 = $3, for $17.50. At $2,000 it's $58 plus 40 × $0.30 = $12, for $70.

So at $500 a month, Starter leaves you $12.50 more. At $2,000, Builder leaves you $100 more, and adds a custom domain, email marketing and a community.

Enter your own monthly sales to see Teachable's lowest-cost plan next to other course platforms, fees included.

Student fees and usage fees

Teachable's pricing page lists students enrolled through its checkout as "Unlimited" on every plan. Its legal usage-fee page (last updated September 28, 2026) adds the detail.

For schools created on or after September 3, 2026:

• Paid students added through Teachable's native checkout or a custom payment gateway are "$0", and "There is no limit on how many of these students you can have."
• Other students cost "$0.50/month per student above 100". That includes imports, API additions, $0 checkouts, coupon-to-zero checkouts and access granted from sales on other platforms.
• The fee "is the same on every plan tier", and it isn't a hard cap: students above 100 are billed, not blocked.
• Video storage: all plans include up to 1,000 GB. Above that, it's $15 a month per additional TB.

Older schools stay on the legacy fee schedule "until their first renewal on or after April 30, 2027", unless they ask support to move earlier. Under those legacy rules, Teachable's help center lists 100 active students on Starter, 1,000 on Builder and 5,000 on Growth, then $0.10 (Starter, Builder) or $0.05 (Growth) per extra student per month.

A worked example

Say you open a new school and offer a free mini course as a lead magnet. If 600 people enroll for free, that's 500 students above the first 100. At $0.50 each, the usage fee comes to $250 a month, on any plan.

Teachable features, walked through

Here's what Teachable's own pages confirm, plan by plan where it matters.

Course builder

Every plan card lists "Create with AI". The pricing page also lists auto-graded quizzes, short-answer assessments and drip course content. Certificates start on Growth, along with free subtitles and translations.

If you'd like your lessons and workbooks to look finished without hiring a designer, our guide to course templates on a budget covers slides, workbooks and stock media.

Coaching, digital downloads and memberships

Teachable sells more than courses. Per its help center, "Only courses, coaching products, and digital downloads count toward the published product limit on each plan." Community and memberships don't count toward that limit, and the same article lists memberships and unlimited bundles on every plan.

That matters for planning. A course, a coaching offer and two downloads already use 4 of Starter's 5 product slots.

Community

The pricing page lists a community on Builder and Growth, not Starter. If you want your students talking to each other inside the same login as your course, budget for Builder.

Checkout, payments and payouts

• Payment methods: Teachable's help center says cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay are on by default with Teachable Payments. Other local methods depend on your school's country.
• PayPal: the pricing page lists PayPal rates (3.49% + 49¢ US, 4.99% + 49¢ international). A recent checkout help article says PayPal is "coming soon" to Teachable Payments, so check the current status if your buyers prefer it.
• Selling tools: coupons, upsells and order bumps are listed, and every plan card includes upsells and cart recovery. The integrated affiliate program starts on Builder.
• Tax: "U.S. sales tax, global VAT, and GST handling" is listed on every plan. Automated international tax handling is listed separately on Custom.
• Payouts: per the pricing page, Teachable Payments pays out daily and the monthly payment gateway pays out monthly.
• Other fees: chargebacks are $15. An optional BackOffice service is listed at 2–2.8%.

Email and marketing

Built-in email marketing starts on Builder. It's fine for course announcements and simple messages to students. If email is how you sell, a dedicated email tool gives you more room. See our best email marketing platforms for creators.

Student experience

iOS and Android student apps are listed on Starter, Builder and Growth. For an audience that watches lessons on the bus or between shifts, that's a practical plus at the entry price.

Pros and cons

See Teachable plans →7-day trial + 30-day money-back guarantee

Who Teachable fits, and who should look elsewhere

Teachable is a good fit if:

• You sell one to ten products, mostly courses, with some coaching or downloads.
• Your students learn on their phones, and you want apps without paying for an add-on.
• You sell to buyers in several countries and want sales tax, VAT and GST handled at checkout.
• You expect to grow past about $650 a month in sales, where Builder's flat price makes sense.

Look elsewhere if:

• Your budget is close to $0. Teachable has no free plan. Systeme.io has one.
• You plan a large free course. Free students above 100 cost $0.50 each per month on new schools.
• You want many small products on a low plan. Starter allows 5 and Builder 10.
• You need funnels and email automation in one place. Teachable's built-in email starts on Builder. An all-in-one like Systeme.io bundles funnels and email from its free plan.
• You want certificates on a budget. They start on Growth at $189 a month.

Teachable alternatives

Each of these costs less than Teachable in some situations, and each gives something up. Prices are monthly billing from each vendor's pricing page.

Systeme.io: for a $0–$17 budget

Systeme.io bundles funnels, email marketing, a checkout, courses and a website in one account. The free plan covers 2,000 contacts and 1 course, Startup is $17 a month for 5,000 contacts and 5 courses, and Systeme.io says there are "No transaction fees."

To be fair about Free: it caps you at 500 students, 1 tag, 1 automation rule and 1 workflow, so it's fine for testing but too limited for a real email funnel. Students are unlimited on paid plans. Teachable is the stronger pick if student apps and tax handling matter more than funnels. Read our Systeme.io review for the full limits.

Start Systeme.io free →Free plan with 2,000 contacts

Thinkific: course-first, with 0% platform fees from $54

Thinkific Basic is $54 a month with no platform fee when you use Thinkific Payments, unlimited courses and a 30-day trial. It doesn't include Teachable's every-plan student apps (its branded app is a $199/mo add-on). Our Thinkific vs Teachable comparison goes plan by plan.

Kajabi and Podia

Kajabi Basic is $179 a month and bundles funnels, email and a community. If you're weighing it against Teachable, our Kajabi alternatives guide compares the cost at $2,000 in sales. Podia Mover is $49 with a 5% fee and includes downloads, coaching and community on every plan.

How to choose a Teachable plan

1. Testing one idea, under about $650 a month in sales? Starter costs less in total. Keep the 5-product limit in mind.
2. Selling steadily, or need a custom domain, email or community? Builder. At $2,000 a month, it's $89 against Starter's $189.
3. Need certificates, branding removal or more than one admin? Growth, at $189 a month.
4. Sure you'll stay a year? Yearly billing lists savings of $120, $240 and $600 a year. We'd suggest starting monthly until you're sure the platform fits.
5. Planning a free course or importing students? Work out the $0.50-per-student fee above 100 before you choose any plan.

FAQ

Does Teachable have a free plan?

No. Teachable describes itself as "a paid service that includes a 7-day free trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee." During our check, the pricing page also showed a promotion for a 30-day trial that continues on Builder monthly. Check the current offer when you sign up.

How much are Teachable's transaction fees?

Starter has a 7.5% transaction fee. Builder, Growth and Custom have 0% transaction fees with Teachable Payments. Card processing applies on every plan: 2.9% + 30¢ for US cards and 3.9% + 30¢ for international cards.

Is Teachable Starter or Builder cheaper?

It depends on your sales. On monthly billing, Starter costs less below about $667 a month in sales, and Builder costs less above it. On yearly billing, the point is about $533 a month.

Does Teachable charge per student?

For new schools, paid students through Teachable's checkout are $0 with no limit. Students added other ways, such as imports, free enrollments or $0 coupons, cost $0.50 a month each above the first 100, on every plan. Older schools keep legacy per-plan limits until their first renewal on or after April 30, 2027.

Can I sell coaching and digital downloads on Teachable?

Yes. Teachable's help center says courses, coaching products and digital downloads all count toward your plan's product limit: 5 on Starter, 10 on Builder and 50 on Growth. Memberships and community don't count toward it.

Does Teachable handle VAT and sales tax?

Teachable lists "U.S. sales tax, global VAT, and GST handling" on every plan, Starter included. The Custom plan separately lists automated international tax handling.

The bottom line

Teachable is a solid course platform for solo creators who want student apps and tax handling without paying for add-ons. Starter costs less while you test an idea. Once you're selling more than about $650 a month, Builder at $89 usually costs less in total and adds a custom domain, email marketing and a community.

If your budget is close to $0, or you want funnels and email in one place, Systeme.io is worth a look first.

See Teachable plans →Builder: 0% transaction fees with Teachable Payments

Start Systeme.io free →Free plan, no Systeme.io transaction fees