Teachable vs Thinkific: What Does Your Course Actually Cost?

Teachable takes 7.5% of every sale on its entry plan. Thinkific takes nothing.

Here’s the short version: Thinkific wins for most creators on real monthly cost, because its entry plan has no transaction fee and its student cap doesn’t shrink your business plan into next year’s problem. Teachable wins if you’re selling under 100 students and want the lowest possible entry price — but that Starter plan taxes every sale at 7.5%, which stings the moment you’re actually making money. Below is where each number comes from, and where it bites.

Prices verified August 2026.

Which one actually costs less per month?

On sticker price, Teachable’s Starter plan is cheaper than Thinkific’s Basic — but the comparison stops being fair the second you make a sale. Starter charges a 7.5% platform fee on top of payment processing, while Thinkific’s Basic runs on Thinkific Payments with no platform cut, just standard processing. If you’re a hobbyist selling a $30 ebook to twenty people, the difference is pocket change. If you’re running actual revenue through the platform, that 7.5% is a real line item, not a rounding error.

Annual billing changes both numbers, and both companies want you to pay upfront for the discount. Teachable’s yearly pricing works out cheaper across all three named plans compared to paying monthly. Thinkific’s annual discount is deeper, 25% off monthly versus Teachable’s 22%, but you’re still committing a year’s cash at once either way. Neither is “free,” despite the trial language; Teachable offers a 7-day free trial with a 30-day money-back guarantee, Thinkific gives you a full 30-day trial. If you’re not sure you’ll stick with either, that trial-length gap matters more than it looks.

What do the student and product limits actually mean?

Thinkific’s student cap is the same 10,000 students on Basic, Start, and Grow, you’re not paying more per tier for more room, you’re paying for communities, spaces, admin seats and bandwidth. Teachable does the opposite: Starter caps you at 100 active students and 5 imported students, and Growth jumps to 5,000 active students and 1,000 imported. If your list is already past a hundred people, Teachable’s Starter plan isn’t actually an option for you, whatever the price tag says.

Here’s the detail Teachable doesn’t put in bold on the pricing page: those active-student and imported-student limits disappear entirely once a school has sold $10,000 in a year directly on the platform, according to the pricing FAQ. That’s a meaningful escape hatch if you’re growing fast, but it means the “$39/month” plan is really a promise that gets renegotiated once you succeed, not a fixed price. Budget for that conversation.

Where do the transaction fees actually hurt?

Teachable’s 7.5% platform fee only applies on Starter, it disappears entirely on Builder, Growth, and Custom when you use teachable:pay or the Monthly Payment Gateway. But payment processing fees apply on every single Teachable plan regardless of tier: 2.9% + 30c for US cards, more for international cards and PayPal, plus a $15 chargeback fee. Thinkific charges 0% platform fee on Thinkific Payments across the board, with 2.9% processing, so the fee gap between Thinkific’s cheapest plan and Teachable’s mid-tier plan is really the whole decision for anyone doing volume.

If you’re comparing this against Kajabi’s very different pricing shape, the Teachable review breaks down who Teachable’s fee structure actually suits, and the Kajabi vs Teachable comparison is worth a look if an all-in-one marketing suite matters more to you than course hosting alone.

Reader scenarios

A coach with 40 students and one course. Teachable Starter, on the yearly plan, is the cheaper monthly number, and at that volume, 7.5% on a handful of sales won’t wreck you. Just know you’ll outgrow the 100-active-student cap faster than you think.

A teacher launching a $2,000/month membership. Thinkific Basic, without much debate. Zero platform fee on a five-figure-a-year revenue stream is not a detail, it’s the whole budget line.

An agency running cohort-based courses with a team of five. Thinkific’s Grow plan gives you 10 administrators and phone support; Teachable’s Growth caps you at 5 admin users at a higher price point. If you need a branded mobile app too, that’s a $199/month add-on on Thinkific, check whether that tips the math back toward Teachable’s Growth tier, which includes more built-in without the extra charge.

Who should NOT choose Thinkific

Skip Thinkific if you want a built-in affiliate program without hunting for it. Teachable bakes that into its Builder plan and up. Skip it too if you’re firmly under 100 students and revenue is thin; Thinkific’s Basic plan costs more upfront than Teachable’s Starter, and you won’t be selling enough volume yet for the fee difference to matter. And if a branded mobile app is non-negotiable for your students, Thinkific charges extra for it as a $199/month add-on, which changes the math against Teachable’s Growth tier fast.

Who should NOT choose Teachable

Skip Teachable’s Starter plan the moment your list crosses into real numbers, that 7.5% fee compounds with every launch, and migrating off a platform mid-growth is its own tax on your time. Skip Teachable generally if you need more than one admin seat without jumping to Growth; Builder and Starter both cap you at a single admin user. And if you want transparent pricing at the top end, both platforms go quiet. Teachable’s Custom plan and Thinkific’s Plus plan are both “contact sales,” so don’t expect a number until you’re already on a call.

Switching later isn’t free on either side. You’ll be re-exporting student rosters, rebuilding course pages, and re-establishing payment processing from scratch, reviews and enrollment history typically don’t travel with you. If you’re still choosing between Thinkific and a more marketing-heavy suite, the Thinkific vs Kajabi comparison covers that fork in more detail.

FAQ

Is there a genuinely free plan on either platform? No. Teachable offers a 7-day trial with a 30-day money-back guarantee; Thinkific gives a full 30-day trial. Neither has a permanent free tier, so budget for the bill from day one rather than assuming you can stall on a free plan.

Which platform is cheaper if I’m just testing an idea? Teachable’s Starter plan has the lower sticker price, and at low volume the 7.5% fee won’t add up to much. But if your test succeeds and sales pick up, you’ll feel that fee fast, plan to reassess within a few months, not a year.

Do either of these charge extra for payment processing on top of platform fees? Yes, both do. Teachable charges processing fees (2.9% + 30c for US cards and more for international or PayPal) on every plan regardless of tier, and Thinkific charges 2.9% processing on top of its 0% platform fee. Neither one is truly fee-free; the difference is whether there’s a second cut on top of processing.

What happens if I outgrow the student limits on Teachable? Once your school sells $10,000 in a year directly through Teachable, the active and imported student limits are lifted per the pricing FAQ. It’s a reasonable safety net, but it means the advertised limits on Starter and Builder aren’t fixed ceilings for a growing business.

Is annual billing worth it on either platform? Both discount meaningfully for paying yearly. Teachable’s yearly pricing beats monthly across its named tiers, and Thinkific discounts 25% off monthly. The catch is the same on both: you’re paying a year upfront, so don’t commit annually until you’re sure the platform fits.

Which one should I pick if I only care about the lowest possible fee at scale? Thinkific, because its 0% platform fee applies from the entry plan up, with no tier-jumping required to get there. Teachable only drops its platform fee once you’re on Builder or above, which costs more per month than Thinkific’s equivalent tier.

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How we got these numbers. Prices and fees come straight from the official pricing pages of Teachable, Thinkific, checked in August 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.