Podia vs Teachable: Which One Actually Saves You Money?

You picked the cheap plan, and it’s still taking a cut of every sale.

That’s the problem driving most people to compare Podia and Teachable in the first place: you signed up for the entry-level tier, saw the monthly bill, and then found a transaction fee buried under it. Podia’s Mover plan takes 5% of every sale. Teachable’s Starter plan takes 7.5%. Neither fee shows up in the big number on the pricing page — you find it in the fine print, usually after you’ve already made a sale.

Here’s how each one actually handles it, and which one costs less once you add the parts they don’t lead with.

How each platform handles the fee-on-top-of-fee problem

Podia’s answer is Shaker, at $99/month ($84/month billed annually), which drops the platform fee to 0%. Teachable’s answer is Builder, at $89/month ($69/month annually), same 0% platform fee once you’re on teachable:pay or the Monthly Payment Gateway. Both companies solve the problem the same way: pay more, stop paying per-sale.

The part that doesn’t disappear on either platform is payment processing. Podia’s is 2.9% + 30c through Stripe or PayPal, and Podia’s own pricing page notes this rate can vary by country, without publishing what the international rate actually is. Teachable is more transparent here: 2.9% + 30c for US cards, but it names the international rates outright, 3.9% + 30c for international cards and 4.99% + 49c for international PayPal, plus a $15 chargeback fee if a student disputes a charge. Which platform actually costs less for a global audience isn’t something you can answer from the published numbers alone, since Podia simply doesn’t say what its international rate is.

Prices verified September 2026.

What the entry plans actually get you

Teachable’s Starter, at $39/month ($29/month annually), gives you 5 products and one admin seat, with unlimited students enrolled through Teachable checkout. Podia’s Mover, at $49/month ($42/month annually), costs more but gives you 50 products, 500 videos, and 25 “spaces” (Podia’s term for community areas), on top of a full website, blog, and email built in; it still lacks affiliate marketing, upsells, PayPal, and Zapier, those show up starting on Shaker. If you’re barely selling anything yet, Teachable Starter is the cheaper monthly bill in plain dollars, and the 7.5% fee versus Podia’s 5% only starts to matter once sales pick up.

Here’s the surprising part: neither company has a genuinely free plan anymore. Podia killed its free tier and now offers a 14-day trial, no card required. Teachable’s is a 7-day trial plus a 30-day money-back guarantee. If you were hoping to build a course for free and pay once it sells, that era is over on both platforms.

The other detail worth knowing: Podia’s advertised email subscriber counts (100 on Mover, 500 on Shaker, 1,000 on Earthquaker) are included amounts, not hard ceilings. You can buy more subscribers on any plan. Podia doesn’t publish that add-on price anywhere on its pricing page, so budget some uncertainty there if your list is large.

Annual billing changes the math more than you’d think

Teachable is explicit about this: annual billing is 22% cheaper than monthly, and it names the savings directly, $120/year on Starter, $240 on Builder, $600 on Growth. That’s a real discount, not a rounding trick, but it’s charged as a lump sum upfront. Podia doesn’t publish an equivalent percentage, though its monthly-to-annual drop follows the same shape (Mover goes from $49 to $42/month, Shaker from $99 to $84, Earthquaker from $179 to $150).

The catch on both sides is the same: annual plans are a bigger up-front commitment, and Podia is explicit that there are no partial refunds on annual plans. If you’re not sure you’ll stick with a platform for a full year, monthly billing costs more per month but keeps you out of that trap. This is the same trade-off we walked through in Podia vs Thinkific, annual pricing looks great in a table and less great the month you want to quit.

Who should NOT choose Podia

Skip Podia if you need affiliate marketing, upsells, or PayPal on a tight budget, all three are locked behind Shaker at $99/month, and Mover doesn’t get you there. Skip it too if you’re selling in real volume on Mover; the plan’s 50-product limit is generous, but that 5% fee is still coming out of every one of those sales. And if what you actually want is a broader all-in-one marketing suite with more automation depth, it’s worth reading how Podia stacks up against Kajabi before you commit either way, in Kajabi vs Podia.

Who should NOT choose Teachable

Skip Teachable if international students are a meaningful chunk of your audience and the published surcharges give you pause: the international card rate (3.9% + 30c) and international PayPal rate (4.99% + 49c) are both spelled out on the pricing page, and they’re higher than Teachable’s US rates. Podia doesn’t publish its international rate at all, so this isn’t a case where you can say Podia is cheaper — only that Teachable is the one being upfront about the number. Skip Teachable also if you need more than one admin seat without jumping straight to Growth at $189/month; Starter and Builder both cap you at a single admin user. If budget is the deciding factor overall, Kajabi vs Teachable covers the wider context of where Teachable sits price-wise against the bigger all-in-one players.

Three readers, three answers

A first-time creator with one course and no email list yet: Teachable Starter is the cheaper bill in raw dollars, but Podia’s Mover gets you a website, blog, and email tools built in for the extra $10/month. Which one wins depends on whether you’d otherwise be paying for those extras separately.

A coach doing steady sales who wants to add an affiliate program: Podia Shaker or Teachable Builder, genuinely close, at $99/month vs $89/month monthly ($84 vs $69 annually). I’d lean Teachable here on pure price, unless you’re already inside Podia’s ecosystem and don’t want the switch cost.

A creator selling five figures a year internationally: neither entry plan is built for scale, and the honest answer is that you can’t tell which processing setup costs less from the published numbers, since Podia never states its international rate while Teachable does. Check Podia’s full review for the rest of what you’re signing up for at that volume, and get a direct answer from Podia support on international rates before you commit.

The switch cost, if you’re already on one of these

Moving off Teachable means re-exporting your product content and rebuilding checkout; moving off Podia means the same, plus losing whatever migration help you got for free (Podia offers this for up to 50 products on Mover, up to 150 on Shaker and Earthquaker). Neither company makes leaving easy, and nobody expects them to. Budget real time for this, not an afternoon.

Podia wins for most first-time creators on included features at the entry tier — a full website, blog, and email tools bundled in where Teachable makes you add them later — even carrying a 5% fee most people won’t notice until they’re selling in real volume. Teachable wins if you want the cheaper starting bill, a lower platform fee at 0% sooner without a big plan jump, and transparent international processing rates you can actually plan around. Pick based on what you’re building first: a bare course, or a course with a site and list around it.

FAQ

Does the 5% or 7.5% fee apply to every sale, or just some? It applies to every sale processed through the platform’s checkout on that specific plan tier. It disappears entirely once you upgrade past the entry tier on either platform (Shaker for Podia, Builder or above for Teachable).

Can I avoid payment processing fees entirely? No, both platforms pass through Stripe/PayPal or teachable:pay processing costs regardless of plan tier. The platform fee (5%/7.5%) is separate and is the only piece that goes away with an upgrade.

Is there a free plan I’m missing? No, neither platform currently offers one. Podia discontinued its free tier and now runs a 14-day trial with no card required; Teachable runs a 7-day trial plus a 30-day money-back guarantee.

What happens if I go over my email subscriber limit on Podia? You’re not blocked, the listed subscriber counts (100/500/1,000) are included amounts, and you can buy more on any plan. Podia doesn’t publish that add-on price, so ask support directly before assuming a number.

Which one handles international sales better? You can’t fully answer that from what’s published. Teachable states its international surcharges outright (3.9% + 30c for cards, 4.99% + 49c for PayPal), which at least lets you do the math ahead of time; Podia’s page only says its Stripe/PayPal rate “may vary by country” without naming the number, so if a large share of your students are outside the US, it’s worth asking Podia support directly what that rate actually is before you commit.

Is annual billing worth it on either platform? Only if you’re confident you’ll stick around for the full year. Teachable states its annual discount outright (22% cheaper); Podia’s annual prices are lower too but carry no partial refunds, so a mid-year exit costs you the rest of the term.

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How we got these numbers. Prices and fees come straight from the official pricing pages of Podia, Teachable, checked in September 2026. Where a value wasn’t published, the table shows “—”. Prices in this space change often — confirm on the provider’s site before you buy.