Teachable Payments and Payouts Explained
Teachable takes 7.5% per sale on Starter. Then nothing, on the right plan and payment setup. This guide is about understanding exactly where that gap comes from on Teachable, and when the rest of the money actually shows up.
Short answer
- If you’re on Teachable’s Starter plan ($39/month), you’re paying a 7.5% platform fee on every sale, on top of payment processing.
- If you’re on Builder ($89/month), Growth ($189/month), or Custom, the platform fee drops to 0% as long as you use Teachable Payments (formerly called teachable:pay) or the Monthly Payment Gateway.
- Payment processing fees apply no matter which plan you’re on — there’s no tier that waives those.
- Use Teachable Payments if you want your money daily. Use the Monthly Payment Gateway if a once-a-month payout cycle doesn’t bother your cash flow.
- If 7.5% per sale sounds like a lot once you’re selling consistently, the math around upgrading to Builder is worth running against your own numbers.
The actual fee structure
Teachable’s pricing page describes Starter as “basic tools for getting your business started,” and at $39/month it is the cheapest way onto the platform. But the 7.5% platform fee is the part that catches first-timers off guard, because it’s charged on top of payment processing, not instead of it.
Here’s what stacks on every single sale, regardless of plan:
- Payment processing: 2.9% + 30¢ for US cards, 3.9% + 30¢ for international cards, 3.49% + 49¢ for PayPal (US), 4.99% + 49¢ for PayPal (international).
- Chargeback fee: $15, if a customer disputes a charge.
- Optional BackOffice fee: 2–2.8%, if you opt into that service.
On top of that baseline, Starter adds its 7.5% platform fee. Builder, Growth, and Custom charge 0% platform fee, but only when you’re using Teachable Payments or the Monthly Payment Gateway. If you’re on a higher plan but using some other payment setup, don’t assume the 0% automatically applies; check your account settings before you celebrate.
This is the single biggest lever in Teachable’s pricing, bigger than the monthly plan cost itself for anyone selling with any regularity. A course creator moving off Starter isn’t just buying more admin seats or more product slots, they’re buying out of a per-sale cut entirely. Whether that trade makes sense depends on your sales volume, and that’s a spreadsheet only you can fill in honestly.
When does the money actually arrive?
This is the part people don’t check until the first payout confuses them. Teachable runs two different payout schedules, and which one you get depends on which payment system you’ve set up:
- Teachable Payments: payouts process daily.
- Monthly Payment Gateway: payouts process monthly.
Neither is “better” in the abstract. Daily payouts mean money hits your account close to the moment a student pays, which matters if you rely on that cash flow to run ads or pay contractors. Monthly payouts mean fewer, chunkier deposits, some creators prefer that for bookkeeping, since there’s one deposit to reconcile instead of dozens.
What you shouldn’t do is pick a payment method based on payout speed alone, ignoring the fee side. Remember: the 0% platform fee on Builder, Growth, and Custom only applies when you’re using Teachable Payments or the Monthly Payment Gateway, so your choice here is tied to the fee question, not separate from it.
Decision criteria, with real numbers
Your plan determines your platform fee, period. Starter at $39/month means 7.5% off every sale before processing even touches it. Builder ($89/month), Growth ($189/month), and Custom all bring that platform fee to 0%, provided you’re using the right payment method.
Processing fees never disappear. No plan on Teachable waives the 2.9% + 30¢ (or international/PayPal equivalents). Budget for that regardless of which tier you pick.
Payout frequency is a cash-flow decision, not a fee decision. Daily via Teachable Payments, monthly via the Monthly Payment Gateway, pick based on how tightly you need to manage incoming cash, not based on which sounds more “modern.”
Starter caps you at 5 products; Builder at 10; Growth at 50. If you’re testing the waters with one course, Starter’s fee structure might still cost you less in absolute terms than the jump to Builder, but only you know your sales volume well enough to run that comparison.
How this compares to other platforms
Of the four platforms covered on Skillonica, only Teachable (7.5% on Starter) and Podia (5% on Mover) charge a platform fee on their entry-level tier at all. Thinkific and Kajabi charge 0% platform fee on their entry plans when you use their own payment system, Thinkific Payments or Kajabi Payments respectively, with processing fees layered on separately. Thinkific’s catch: use Stripe or PayPal directly instead of Thinkific Payments, and a third-party gateway fee applies, and the size of that fee varies by plan. Kajabi’s processing rate itself drops as you move up tiers, 2.9% + $0.30 on Basic down to 2.7% + $0.30 on Pro, and it slaps its own surcharge (2% down to 0.5%) if you use a third-party processor instead of Kajabi Payments. Podia charges that 5% platform fee on its entry Mover plan, dropping to 0% on Shaker and Earthquaker, with Stripe or PayPal taking their processing cut separately; Podia never touches that part.
If you’re trying to decide whether Teachable’s structure beats the alternatives for your specific situation, the detailed breakdowns live in Kajabi Fees Explained and Podia vs Teachable: Which One Actually Saves You Money?. Neither platform is free of fees, nobody in this market is, but where the cut lands differs enough to matter.
Decision table
| Reader situation | What to pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Just starting, unsure if the course will sell at all | Teachable Starter, Teachable Payments for daily payouts | Lowest entry cost; the 7.5% fee only bites once you’re actually making sales, so the risk is proportional |
| Selling steadily, fee eating into margins | Upgrade to Builder, keep Teachable Payments or switch to Monthly Payment Gateway | 0% platform fee at Builder; run your own numbers on whether the plan cost is offset by the fee savings |
| Needs frequent cash flow for ads or contractors | Teachable Payments (daily payouts), on whichever plan fits product count | Payout speed matters more here than the exact fee percentage |
| Prefers simpler monthly bookkeeping, doesn’t need daily cash | Monthly Payment Gateway | Fewer deposits to reconcile, same 0% fee available on Builder and above |
| Running a large catalog needing more admin seats and products | Growth or Custom, Teachable Payments | 0% platform fee plus more product slots (50 on Growth) and more admin users |
Common mistakes
Assuming a plan upgrade alone kills the platform fee. The 0% rate only applies if you’re actually using Teachable Payments or the Monthly Payment Gateway. Upgrade to Builder but keep an old payment setup, and you might still be paying more than you think, check your payment settings, not just your plan tier.
Ignoring payment processing fees entirely. Creators fixate on the 7.5% vs 0% platform fee question and forget that 2.9% + 30¢ (or more, for international cards or PayPal) applies no matter what plan you’re on. The “0% fee” plans are not “0% total deduction” plans.
Choosing payout frequency without checking the fee link. Someone picks the Monthly Payment Gateway purely because they like fewer deposits, not realizing it’s one of only two options that unlocks the 0% platform fee on higher plans. Fine choice, just know it’s tied to fee eligibility, not just payout timing.
Staying on Starter indefinitely out of inertia. The 7.5% fee is fine at low volume and expensive at high volume. Nobody runs the math until a payout report looks smaller than expected, and by then months of 7.5% have already gone out the door.
If you’re still deciding between Teachable and something else entirely, How to Choose a Course Platform (Without Regretting It Later) walks through the broader decision, and Kajabi vs Teachable: Which One Actually Fits Your Budget? gets specific about where the two overlap and where they don’t.
FAQ
Does Teachable charge a fee on top of the 7.5%, or is that the whole cut? The 7.5% is the platform fee alone, payment processing (2.9% + 30¢ for US cards, more for international or PayPal) is charged separately on every single sale, regardless of plan.
If I’m on Builder, is my platform fee automatically 0%? Only if you’re using Teachable Payments or the Monthly Payment Gateway. If your payment setup is something else, confirm your actual rate in your account before assuming you’re at 0%.
Which payout schedule should I pick if I need money fast? Teachable Payments pays out daily; the Monthly Payment Gateway pays out once a month. If cash flow timing matters to your business, daily is the obvious pick.
Does the $15 chargeback fee apply on every plan? Teachable’s pricing page lists the $15 chargeback fee among its payment-processing charges, without tying it to a specific plan, so budget for the occasional dispute no matter which tier you’re on.
Is there a cheaper way to avoid the platform fee without upgrading plans? Not on Teachable, the 0% rate is tied to plan tier (Builder, Growth, Custom) plus the right payment method. There’s no workaround that keeps you on Starter and drops the fee.
Should I switch platforms entirely instead of dealing with Teachable’s fee tiers? Maybe, depending on your volume and needs, Podia Review: Is It Worth the Monthly Bill? and Cheapest Course Platform: A Guide to Picking Without Getting Burned are good next reads before you decide to migrate anything.
How we got these numbers. Prices and fees come straight from the official pricing pages of Teachable, Thinkific, Kajabi, Podia, 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.