If you want to sell a course, the platform decision is really two decisions: how much you pay every month, and how much of each sale the platform keeps. The cheapest monthly price is rarely the cheapest platform once you are actually selling, because a 5% or 7.5% cut on every sale adds up fast. This guide compares the five best online course platforms for creators on the numbers that matter — monthly price, transaction fees, product limits and what each one is genuinely good at — so you can pick the one that fits where you are now, not where a sales page says you should be.
How this guide was put together: prices and plan limits were checked against each vendor’s own pricing page and November 2026 pricing coverage on 12 November 2026. We did not run paid accounts or test-drive these platforms hands-on, so nothing here is a first-hand testing claim — it is desk research, and the figures are dated so you can check them yourself. Prices change; confirm the live pricing page before you buy. There are no affiliate links in this article — every link to a platform is a plain link to its official site.
In this guide:
- The five platforms at a glance
- Teachable — the familiar default
- Thinkific — courses plus community and cohorts
- Kajabi — the all-in-one, at an all-in-one price
- Podia — the simple all-in-one for a first product
- LearnWorlds — the academy builder
- How to choose: the fee maths that decides it
- The verdict: which platform for which creator
- Frequently asked questions
The five best online course platforms at a glance
| Platform | Entry plan (monthly / annual) | Platform fee on sales | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Teachable | Starter $39/mo ($29 annual) | 7.5% on Starter, 0% above | First paid course, quick setup |
| Thinkific | Start $109/mo ($82 annual) | 0% on Thinkific Payments | Courses with community and live cohorts |
| Kajabi | Basic $179/mo ($143 annual) | 0% on Kajabi Payments | Creators who want website, email and courses on one bill |
| Podia | Mover $49/mo ($42 annual) | 5% on Mover, 0% above | Selling a first product without fuss |
| LearnWorlds | Starter $49/mo ($44 annual) | $5 per paid enrolment on Starter, 0% above | Quizzes, certificates and multi-course academies |
Every platform here charges card processing on top of its own fees — typically around 2.9% + 30¢ per sale through the platform’s own checkout — and none of them offers a free plan any more. Each one offers a free trial instead, from 7 days (Teachable) to 30 days (Thinkific, LearnWorlds).
Teachable — the familiar default
Teachable is the platform most creators have heard of first, and for a first paid course it is still a reasonable default. The course builder is straightforward, the checkout handles taxes, and the student apps for iOS and Android are included from the first plan. The catch is the fee on the cheapest plan.
Pricing: Starter $39 a month, or $29 a month billed annually, with a 7.5% transaction fee on every sale and a cap of 5 products. Builder is $89 a month ($69 annual) with 0% fees, 10 products, a custom domain, an affiliate programme and graded quizzes. Growth is $189 a month ($139 annual) with 0% fees, 50 products, certificates and 5 admin seats. A Custom plan is priced through sales. Every plan starts with a 7-day free trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee, and there is no free plan.
What is good: the lowest entry price of the five, a genuinely simple setup, and a mature checkout with tax handling built in. Builder at $69 a month on annual billing is a fair price for a creator with steady sales and no platform cut.
What to watch: the 7.5% Starter fee is the steepest entry-level cut in this comparison — on $1,000 of monthly sales, that is $75 on top of the $39 subscription. Teachable also charges $0.50 a month for each free or imported student above the first 100 on schools created after September 2026, so a large free list is no longer free to hold. And the entry plan has no certificates, which matters if your buyers expect one.
Who it suits: a creator launching a first paid course who wants the cheapest way in and expects to move to Builder once sales are steady. If you plan to stay on Starter for a year, do the fee maths first — Builder usually wins once you pass about $500–$650 a month in sales.
Source: Teachable pricing
Thinkific — courses plus community and cohorts
Thinkific’s strength is that it is a course platform and a community platform in the same subscription. Live cohorts, memberships, certificates and assignments are included from the entry plan, which makes it the strongest fit here for a creator whose course is really a programme — a group that meets live, works through material together and stays in touch between sessions.
Pricing: Start $109 a month, or $82 a month billed annually. Grow is $219 a month ($164 annual) and adds branding removal, B2B invoicing, an API and phone support. Expand is $499 a month ($374 annual) for larger audiences and ten communities. Plus is custom-priced. Thinkific takes no cut of your sales when you use Thinkific Payments; if you use your own Stripe or PayPal account instead, it adds 2% on Start, 1% on Grow and 0.5% on Expand. There is no free plan — a 30-day free trial instead. Prices rose about 10% on 13 August 2026, and the old $49 Basic plan left the public pricing page in October 2026, so Start is now the entry point.
What is good: unlimited courses from the first plan, live cohorts and certificates included at $82 a month on annual billing, and no platform fee on its own checkout. The community features are real, not a bolt-on: one community with ten spaces on Start, three on Grow.
What to watch: the entry price is the second-highest here, and it jumped sharply when Basic disappeared — a creator who would have paid $40 a month on annual billing a year ago now pays $82. Branding removal and the API both wait until Grow. And the 10,000-current-student cap applies on Start and Grow alike.
Who it suits: a creator selling cohort-based courses, memberships or a community alongside the course — and anyone who wants certificates and assignments without paying for a higher tier. If your course is a single self-paced video series, Thinkific is more platform than you need at this price.
Source: Thinkific pricing
Kajabi — the all-in-one, at an all-in-one price
Kajabi is the only platform here that tries to replace your whole stack: course hosting, website, email marketing, landing pages, funnels, community and checkout on one subscription. That is either a bargain or a very expensive course host, depending on how much of the bundle you actually use.
Pricing: Basic $179 a month, or $143 a month billed annually, with 5 products, 2,500 contacts and one website. Growth is $249 a month ($199 annual) with 50 products and 25,000 contacts. Pro is $499 a month ($399 annual) with unlimited products and 100,000 contacts. Kajabi takes no revenue share on Kajabi Payments — card processing is 2.9% + 30¢ on Basic, falling to 2.7% + 30¢ on Pro — but if you use your own Stripe account, Kajabi adds 2% on Basic, 1% on Growth and 0.5% on Pro. There is a 14-day free trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee, and no free plan. The old $89 Kickstarter plan was removed from the public pricing page in January 2026 and is no longer offered to new creators.
What is good: the most complete bundle in this comparison — if you would otherwise pay separately for a website builder, an email tool and a course host, one $143-a-month bill can genuinely be cheaper than three subscriptions. Unlimited marketing emails on every plan, and a polished student experience.
What to watch: the price. Basic at $1,716 a year is a serious commitment for a first course, and its limits are tight: 5 products and 2,500 contacts. Outgrow the contact cap and you are paying $125 a month per extra 25,000-contact block. Kajabi’s own pricing FAQ admits it is expensive if all you want is a course platform — and it is right.
Who it suits: a creator already earning from courses who wants to consolidate website, email and courses onto one bill and will use the email and funnel tools daily. As a first platform for a first course, it is too much money for too much tool.
Source: Kajabi pricing
Podia — the simple all-in-one for a first product
Podia is the least intimidating platform in this roundup. Website, courses, digital downloads, community, blog and email marketing are included on every plan, the interface stays out of your way, and there is a free migration service if you are moving from somewhere else. It is the platform to pick when you want to start selling this week, not after a month of setup.
Pricing: Mover $49 a month, or $42 a month billed annually, with a 5% transaction fee on every sale, 50 products and 25 community spaces. Shaker is $99 a month ($84 annual) with 0% fees, 150 products, affiliate marketing, upsells, PayPal checkout and Zapier. Earthquaker is $179 a month ($150 annual) with 0% fees and unlimited products and spaces. There is a 14-day free trial and no free plan — the free plan was removed in October 2024. Podia restructured its prices in 2026, adding Earthquaker and capping products and email contacts, so older reviews quoting a free plan or lower prices are out of date.
What is good: the simplest path from zero to a selling page, and the only platform here that bundles email marketing into the entry plan. The Mover-to-Shaker crossover is easy to work out: on annual billing, Shaker becomes cheaper than Mover at about $840 a month in revenue, because the 5% fee stops.
What to watch: the 5% Mover fee punishes success — the more you sell, the more the cheap plan costs you. Email contacts are metered (100 included on Mover, 500 on Shaker), so a growing list becomes a paid add-on. And Podia’s course tools are simpler than LearnWorlds’ — no SCORM, no interactive video, no graded exams worth naming.
Who it suits: a first-time seller with one or two products who wants website, course, community and email in one place and does not need advanced assessment tools. Move to Shaker as soon as monthly sales pass roughly $800.
Source: Podia pricing
LearnWorlds — the academy builder
LearnWorlds is built for creators who think of their courses as a school rather than a product page: graded quizzes, certificates, interactive video, SCORM support and learning paths are the point of the platform, not extras. It is the strongest choice here for training-style content — and the weakest for a quick first sale, because the entry plan carries a per-enrolment fee that most comparisons miss.
Pricing: Starter $49 a month, or $44 a month billed annually, plus $5 on every paid enrolment, with 1,000 monthly active learners and one admin. Pro Trainer is $99 a month ($79 annual) with no enrolment fee, 2,000 active learners, certificates, subscriptions, interactive video and 20 SCORM uploads. Learning Center is $299 a month ($249 annual) with 25 admins and the same 2,000-learner limit. Corporate is custom-priced. There is a 30-day free trial and no free plan. Note the change: Starter rose from $29/$24 to $49/$44 in late October 2026, with no features added — older guides still quote the old price. Prices exclude VAT, which is added for EU customers without a VAT number.
What is good: the most capable learning tools in this comparison — certificates, assessments and interactive video from Pro Trainer, plus an AI course builder and AI credits on every plan. Pro Trainer at $79 a month on annual billing is a fair price for what it includes.
What to watch: the Starter plan is a poor deal now: $44 a month plus $5 per enrolment buys you a plan with no certificates and no interactive video, and Pro Trainer becomes cheaper once you pass about 7–10 paid enrolments a month. The 1,000–2,000 monthly active learner caps are also easy to hit if a course takes off.
Who it suits: a creator selling training where certificates, quizzes or SCORM matter — corporate training, professional skills, exam prep. If you do not need those tools, you are paying for a learning platform to do a storefront’s job.
Source: LearnWorlds pricing
How to choose: the fee maths that decides it
Monthly price is the number on the pricing page; your real cost is the monthly price plus the platform’s cut of your sales. Work it out at the sales level you actually expect:
- Under $500 a month in sales: the fee barely matters yet, so pick on simplicity and entry price — Teachable Starter or Podia Mover.
- $500–$1,000 a month: the fee starts to dominate. Teachable Builder ($69 annual) and Podia Shaker ($84 annual) both charge 0%, and either beats staying on a fee-charging entry plan.
- Over $1,000 a month: you should not be paying any platform a percentage. Any 0% plan works; choose on features — Thinkific for community, LearnWorlds Pro Trainer for assessments, Kajabi if you also want the email and website tools.
- One course, one price, no fuss: Podia Mover is the simplest start; Teachable Starter is the cheapest start. Both are fine for a first launch.
- A programme, not a product: live cohorts, memberships and a community point to Thinkific Start.
- Training with certificates: LearnWorlds Pro Trainer is the only plan here built for that job at under $100 a month.
Two costs people forget to budget: card processing (about 2.9% + 30¢ per sale on every platform, on top of the platform fee) and the cost of the tools each platform does not include. Kajabi looks expensive until you cancel a separate email tool and website host; Teachable looks cheap until you add an email platform and a landing page builder. If you are building the rest of your stack too, our guides to the best landing page builders for beginners and email marketing tools for creators cover the pieces these platforms do not handle, and the best webinar platforms for creators roundup covers the live teaching side if your course includes live sessions.
The verdict: which platform for which creator
There is no single best online course platform — there is a best one for the size of business you run today. Our picks:
- First course, tight budget: Teachable Starter — the cheapest way in, with a clear upgrade to Builder once sales pass about $500 a month.
- First product, simplest setup: Podia Mover — website, course, community and email in one place, and Shaker once sales pass about $840 a month.
- Cohorts and community: Thinkific Start — live cohorts, memberships and certificates from the first plan, at a price that only makes sense if you use them.
- Training and certificates: LearnWorlds Pro Trainer — skip Starter entirely; the $5 enrolment fee makes it the wrong starting point.
- Replacing your whole stack: Kajabi Basic — worth it only if you actually use the website, email and funnel tools and your revenue already justifies $143 a month.
If you are still deciding between selling a course and selling something else first, the honest answer is to start with the platform whose entry plan you can afford for six months without a sale — because a course business pays for its platform before it pays you. Pick the cheap, simple option now; the platforms all offer free migration help, and switching later costs less than paying $179 a month for tools you are not using.
Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest online course platform for creators?
On monthly price alone, Teachable Starter at $29 a month billed annually is the cheapest entry point, but it takes 7.5% of every sale. Podia Mover is $42 a month annually with a 5% fee. Once you are selling more than a few hundred dollars a month, a 0% plan such as Teachable Builder ($69 annual) or Podia Shaker ($84 annual) works out cheaper overall. The cheapest platform is the one whose total cost — subscription plus fees — is lowest at your sales level.
Do online course platforms take a cut of my sales?
Most do on their cheapest plans, and none do on their higher plans when you use the platform’s own checkout. Teachable takes 7.5% on Starter, Podia 5% on Mover, and LearnWorlds $5 per paid enrolment on Starter. Thinkific and Kajabi take 0% on their own checkouts at every tier. On top of any platform fee, card processing of roughly 2.9% + 30¢ per sale applies everywhere.
Can I sell a course without paying a monthly fee?
Not on any of the five platforms in this guide — all of them dropped their free plans, and each one now starts with a paid plan and a free trial. Marketplaces such as Udemy and Skillshare charge no monthly fee but take a large share of each sale and control the pricing and the customer relationship, which is a different trade-off entirely.
Which online course platform is best for a first course?
For a first course, Podia Mover or Teachable Starter. Podia is the simpler setup and includes email marketing; Teachable is cheaper per month and has the better-known checkout. Either is fine for a launch — the more important decision is to pick one, publish the course, and upgrade only when the fee maths says so.
Is Kajabi worth $179 a month?
Only if you use the bundle. Kajabi Basic at $179 a month ($143 billed annually) replaces a course host, a website builder, an email tool and a funnel builder. If you would pay for most of those separately anyway, it can save money. If all you want is a place to host and sell a course, it is roughly three to five times the price of the alternatives here, and its own pricing FAQ says as much.
Source notes: plan prices, transaction fees and plan limits in this guide are as published on each vendor’s pricing page and in November 2026 pricing coverage, checked 12 November 2026 — Teachable (teachable.com/pricing), Thinkific (thinkific.com/pricing), Kajabi (kajabi.com/pricing), Podia (podia.com/pricing), LearnWorlds (learnworlds.com/pricing). Prices change; confirm the live pricing page before you buy.