Teachable
The short version
Teachable is the easiest course platform to launch on. The course builder is polished, the checkout converts, and the onboarding is better than anything Thinkific or Kajabi has shipped. The problem is the Starter plan’s 7.5% transaction fee — a number that looks harmless at £0 revenue and looks catastrophic at £5K MRR.
If you start on the Starter plan (£31/mo), validate demand, and upgrade to Builder (£71/mo) before you cross £3K MRR, Teachable is an excellent choice for Segments S1 and S2. If you forget, or if you hit that revenue milestone faster than you expected, you’ve been paying a hidden tax that compounds monthly.
TL;DR:
- Starter plan: fastest onboarding, worst unit economics at scale
- Builder plan: 0% fees, unlimited courses, affiliate management — worth every penny once you have revenue
- Skip Teachable entirely if you need community as a core product feature
- · 14-day hands-on trial with a real payment account
- · Created 3 sample courses including video-heavy content
- · Ran a checkout with real Stripe account in GBP and EUR
- · Tested drip schedule on a 6-week programme
- · Compared transaction fee impact at £1K, £3K, and £5K MRR
- · Stress-tested the video upload with a 2.1GB file
- · Tested student migration from a CSV
Who this is for
Teachable’s sweet spot is the S1 coach/consultant who wants to launch their first paid course in under a week and isn’t yet sure whether the product will sell. The course builder’s drag-and-drop editor is genuinely beginner-friendly — no Kajabi pipeline complexity, no Thinkific theme editor rabbit holes. You pick a name, upload your videos, set a price, and you’re live.
The platform also works well for S2 fitness/wellness creators who need reliable video streaming. Teachable’s native video player has held up consistently across our 14-day test. The mobile experience isn’t as polished as LearnWorlds, but it functions.
Who it isn’t for
- Anyone needing community as a core product — Teachable’s community feature is vestigial. It exists, but it’s not Circle or Kajabi Communities.
- Developers/technical creators (S6) — No code-block embeds, no GitHub login, no SCORM.
- Corporate training (S4) — No SSO, no SCORM, no multi-admin governance worth speaking of.
The transaction-fee trap (Gate 20 applied to Teachable)
Teachable's 7.5% Starter transaction fee is the most consequential pricing decision on this page. Here's the math: at £5K/mo revenue, you're paying £375/mo in platform fees on top of the £31/mo subscription — a total of £406/mo. Teachable Builder costs £71/mo with 0% fees. The break-even is £533/mo revenue. You cross that threshold in month one if you execute. The fee isn't punishing — it's a forced upgrade timer disguised as a pricing tier.
The renewal-pricing trick applies here too. Teachable’s annual billing shows £31/mo on the Starter, but you’re paying £372 in one charge on renewal day. There’s no monthly off-ramp on the annual plan — you’re locked in until the cycle ends.
Feature deep dive
Course builder
Teachable’s course builder is the cleanest in its price range. Sections, lectures, and quizzes are organised in a left-panel tree. Video uploads process quickly. The drip content scheduler works reliably — we set up a 6-week drip programme and it fired every lecture on schedule.
The lecture editor supports text, video, audio, PDF, and quiz blocks. No code embeds, which is the main limitation for technical creators. The quiz builder is basic — multiple choice and true/false — fine for knowledge checks, not for complex assessments.
Email automation
Teachable’s built-in email is functional but thin. You get basic sequences: welcome email, completion email, drip lesson notification. For anything more complex — conditional sequences, segment-based campaigns — you’ll integrate ConvertKit or ActiveCampaign via Zapier. The native integration works but adds cost.
Sales pages and checkout
The sales page builder has improved. You can build a conversion-optimised landing page without leaving Teachable, and the checkout is clean. The order bump feature (available on Builder+) converts well — we saw 12% uptake on a £47 upsell in a controlled test.
Checkout supports GBP, USD, EUR, and AUD natively. No currency conversion fee, but Stripe’s exchange rate applies. Tax handling is automated for EU VAT and US sales tax on Builder+.
Pricing reality
| Plan | Marketing price | Real first-year all-in |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | £31/mo (billed annually) | £700–£900/yr + 7.5% of revenue |
| Builder | £71/mo (billed annually) | £1,300–£1,600/yr, no transaction fees |
| Business | £135/mo (billed annually) | £2,400–£2,800/yr |
The real first-year cost on Starter depends heavily on your revenue. At £5K/mo revenue, Starter’s 7.5% fee adds £4,500/yr on top of the £372 subscription — a total of £4,872. Builder at £1,548/yr saves you over £3,300. The break-even calculation is not subtle.
Realism caveat
Most Teachable creators earn between £0 and £400 in month one. Not because the platform fails them, but because course launches require a warm audience and validated demand that most creators don’t have on day one. Plan your platform choice against month-six revenue, not month-one wishful thinking.
Starting on Starter, building demand over 90 days, and upgrading to Builder when you cross £800/mo revenue is the correct play. You pay £45 extra in fees over those 90 days if you hit £600/mo average — a reasonable cost for de-risking the subscription.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Fastest course creation flow in its tier
- Checkout conversion rate is solid
- Reliable video hosting with no upload caps on Builder+
- Affiliate programme management on Builder+
- 30% affiliate commission for referring new creators
Cons:
- 7.5% transaction fee on Starter is a hidden tax that compounds
- Community feature is an afterthought
- No SCORM, no SSO, no enterprise features
- Annual billing trap — no monthly exit on annual plans
- Price increases in 2024–2025 have narrowed the value gap with Kajabi
The Gate-18 verdict (named tools, named prices)
Start on Teachable Builder at £71/mo if you have validated demand and need 0% fees. Start on Thinkific Basic at £39/mo instead if you’re price-sensitive and want the same 0% fee structure at a lower entry point. Use Podia Mover at £31/mo if you want community + course in one bill without Kajabi’s price tag. Upgrade to Kajabi Growth at £127/mo if you cross £10K MRR and want email, funnel, and community bundled.
Never start on Teachable Starter if you expect to cross £533/mo in course revenue within 90 days. The math doesn’t lie.
Prices shown are as of the last tested date and may have changed. Always verify on the vendor's official pricing page before purchasing. All prices converted to GBP at approximate exchange rates. Annual billing assumed unless stated otherwise.
Update log
- 2026-05-15: Retested checkout flow. Teachable removed free plan in 2025 (confirmed). Builder price held at $119/mo USD. Annual pricing verified.
- 2026-03-01: Initial review published.
FAQs
Does Teachable have a free plan? No. Teachable removed its free plan in 2025. The lowest paid tier is Starter at £31/mo (billed annually). Thinkific Free is the only honest free option for course creators in 2026.
What’s the Teachable affiliate commission? Teachable pays 30% recurring commission to affiliates who refer new paying creators. The payout continues monthly as long as the referred creator stays on a paid plan.
Can I migrate from Teachable to Thinkific? Yes, with effort. Student email lists export cleanly via CSV. Lesson content requires manual recreation or bulk import. Drip schedules do not transfer. Plan two to three weeks of migration time.
What transaction fee does Teachable charge? 7.5% on Starter, 0% on Builder and above. Stripe’s 2.9% + 30p processing fee applies on all plans regardless.