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Guide · comparison

Thinkific vs Teachable (2026): The Transaction Fee That Decides It

Most Thinkific vs Teachable comparisons drown you in feature checklists and never answer the question that actually determines what you'll pay: what happens to Teachable's 7.5% transaction fee as your revenue grows? Because that one number — buried on the Starter plan — quietly flips which platform is cheaper, and the flip happens far earlier than most people expect.

Both platforms let you build, host, and sell online courses without touching code. Both dropped their free plans. Both charge somewhere between $29 and $219 per month depending on tier. The real difference in 2026 is how they treat your sales: Thinkific takes no platform cut on any paid plan, while Teachable's cheapest plan takes 7.5% of every sale until you upgrade. This guide does the honest math — at $500, $2,000, and $10,000 a month — so you can pick once and not regret it.

Quick verdict: who should pick which

Pick Thinkific if you expect to earn more than about $150/month in course sales any time soon, if you want communities or memberships without a top-tier plan, or if you simply hate the idea of a platform taking a percentage of your revenue. Basic at $40/month (annual) with unlimited courses and 0% platform fees is the strongest entry-level deal of the two. Try Thinkific free for 30 days →

Pick Teachable if you're testing the waters at very low volume and want the cheapest possible monthly bill ($29/month annual on Starter), or if your model is courses plus one-off coaching and digital downloads and you're comfortable upgrading to Builder ($69/month annual) the moment sales are real. Try Teachable →

Pick neither if you have no budget yet — there's a genuinely free option covered below.

Thinkific vs Teachable pricing, compared (2026)

Both platforms updated pricing this year; these figures are from the official pricing pages as of September 2026. Annual billing is shown as the effective monthly rate.

Thinkific plans

Payment processing runs through Thinkific Payments at 2.9%. A branded mobile app is a separate add-on at $199/month.

Teachable plans

Teachable's processing is 2.9% + 30¢ on US cards, 3.9% + 30¢ international, with a $15 chargeback fee. Note the product caps: Starter limits you to 5 products and Builder to 10, where Thinkific gives unlimited courses on every plan.

The 7.5% fee: real math at $500, $2,000, and $10,000 a month

On paper, Teachable Starter ($29/month annual) undercuts Thinkific Basic ($40/month annual) by $11. But Starter takes 7.5% of every sale, and Thinkific takes nothing. So the question is simple: at what revenue does 7.5% exceed $11?

The break-even is $11 ÷ 0.075 = about $147 per month in sales. That's roughly three $49 course sales. On monthly billing ($39 vs $54, a $15 gap) the break-even is $200/month. Either way: the moment your course sells at all, Starter's "cheaper" price stops being cheaper.

Here's the platform cost (subscription + Teachable's 7.5% fee, annual billing, processing fees excluded since both charge ~2.9%) at three revenue levels:

Read that middle row again. At $2,000/month — a modest, very achievable course business — Teachable Starter's fee alone ($150) costs more than three Thinkific Basic subscriptions. Over a year, staying on Starter at that revenue burns $1,668 more than Thinkific Basic.

Teachable's real answer to this is Builder: at $69/month annual with 0% fees, it's a fair plan. But it's still $29/month more than Thinkific Basic while capping you at 10 products. The honest summary: Teachable Starter is only rational below ~$147/month in revenue, and once you upgrade to escape the fee, you land on a plan that's pricier than Thinkific's entry point. That's why the transaction fee, not the feature list, decides this comparison for most creators. For a broader look at how these two stack up against the whole market, see our guide to the best platforms to sell online courses in 2026.

Course builder & student experience

Feature-wise, the platforms are closer than either's marketing admits. Both give you a drag-and-drop curriculum builder, hosted video, quizzes, drip scheduling, and a clean student dashboard, and both are far easier to launch on than a self-hosted WordPress setup.

The philosophical difference: Thinkific leans toward the learning experience — its structure around communities, and (on Start and up) assignments and certificates, suits creators who care about completion rates and cohorts. Teachable leans toward the selling experience — its checkout, order bumps, and product framing (courses, coaching, downloads as "products") suit creators optimizing for conversion on a small catalog. Neither builder will limit a typical course; try both trials with one real lesson and see which editor fights you less. If design flexibility is your top priority, LearnWorlds is the more customization-heavy alternative worth a look — see LearnWorlds → — and our Kajabi alternatives guide compares the wider all-in-one field.

Communities, memberships and coaching

This is Thinkific's clearest feature win. Every Thinkific plan includes a community — even Basic ships with one community space, and Grow raises that to three. Memberships and bundles unlock at the Start tier ($82/month annual), which means you can run a subscription community-plus-courses model without buying the top plan.

Teachable's strength runs the other way: coaching and digital downloads as first-class products. If your model is "course + 1:1 coaching upsell + a few paid templates," Teachable's product structure handles that neatly within your product cap. But if your model is "membership community with courses inside" — the model most creators are moving toward in 2026 — Thinkific is built for it and Teachable isn't.

Payments, taxes and payouts

Both platforms now push their native payment stacks: Thinkific Payments and Teachable Payments. The headline numbers:

Two details that matter more than they look. First, Teachable's 30¢ per-transaction fee stings on low-priced products: on a $10 download it's an extra 3% on its own, and the 3.9% international rate adds up if your audience is global. Second, chargebacks: Teachable bills you $15 per dispute, so factor that in if you sell high-refund-risk offers. On the plus side for Teachable, its payments stack has historically handled things like EU VAT collection and (for US creators) author payouts in a fairly hands-off way — check the current terms on their site for your country, as tax handling details change often and differ by plan and region.

Neither has a free plan anymore — what changed

For years, "start free on Teachable or Thinkific" was the default advice. That era is over. In 2026, neither platform offers a free plan. Thinkific gives you a 30-day free trial; Teachable gives you a 7-day trial plus a 30-day money-back guarantee. The pattern is industry-wide: free tiers attracted hobbyists who never converted, so platforms replaced them with trials and pushed monetization down-market — which is exactly where Teachable's 7.5% Starter fee comes from.

Practical consequence: you now need either a real launch plan within your trial window, or a platform that's actually free while you validate. Thinkific's 30 days is enough to build and soft-launch one course; Teachable's 7 days really isn't, though the money-back guarantee softens that.

The free alternative: Systeme.io

If you're pre-revenue and the trials feel like a countdown clock, there's a third option most comparisons skip: Systeme.io still has a genuinely free tier that lets you build and sell a course — along with the sales funnel and email list to sell it with — at $0/month. It's less polished as a pure course experience than either Thinkific or Teachable, but it removes the "pay before you've earned" problem entirely, and plenty of creators validate on it before graduating to a dedicated course platform.

FAQ

Does Thinkific or Teachable have a free plan in 2026?

No. Both platforms have retired their free plans. Thinkific offers a 30-day free trial; Teachable offers a 7-day trial plus a 30-day money-back guarantee. If you need a genuinely free tier, Systeme.io still has one.

Which has lower fees, Thinkific or Teachable?

Thinkific. On paid Thinkific plans there is no platform transaction fee — just 2.9% processing via Thinkific Payments. Teachable's Starter plan charges 7.5% per sale on top of processing (2.9% + 30¢ US cards); you must upgrade to Builder ($89/mo, or $69/mo annual) to reach 0%.

Is Teachable's 7.5% transaction fee worth it for the cheaper plan?

Only below roughly $147/month in course revenue (annual billing). Above that, the 7.5% fee costs more than the price gap to Thinkific Basic — at $2,000/month the fee alone is $150, more than Thinkific Basic's entire subscription.

Can I migrate from Teachable to Thinkific (or vice versa)?

Yes, but it's manual: you re-upload content, rebuild landing pages, and students reset passwords on the new platform. Active subscriptions usually need to be re-created. Migrate early — it gets harder with every enrolled student, which is why the fee math above is worth doing before you launch.

Which is better for memberships and communities?

Thinkific. Every plan includes at least one community, and memberships and bundles unlock on the Start plan. Teachable is built primarily around individual courses, coaching, and downloads.

Is annual billing worth it?

If you're committed, yes — Thinkific Basic drops from $54 to $40/month (about 26% off) and Teachable Builder from $89 to $69/month (about 22% off). Run the trial on monthly billing first, then switch to annual once the platform has earned it.

Conclusion: do the fee math before you fall for a feature

Thinkific vs Teachable in 2026 is not really a features fight — it's a fee structure fight. Thinkific Basic at $40/month with unlimited courses, a community, and 0% platform fees is the better deal for almost anyone who intends to actually sell. Teachable Starter's $29/month looks cheaper for exactly as long as your revenue stays under about $147 a month; after that, the 7.5% fee makes it the most expensive option on this page. If you'll earn, pick Thinkific or go straight to Teachable Builder via Teachable; if you're still validating, start free on Systeme.io and upgrade with revenue, not hope.

Pricing and fees verified on the official Thinkific and Teachable pricing pages on September 1, 2026. Plans change — confirm current pricing on each site before subscribing.