I started my website back in 2016, and one of the first things I did that year to generate an income was sell an online course about sewing. I started with Teachable, moved to Thinkific, moved back to Teachable and tried a few other online course platforms along the way. The reason for this switching was to make sure I was getting the best value for my money along with the most user friendly options for my online course students.
Some of the many online course hosting platforms I’ve used (in alphabetical order) are:
- Kajabi
- Kartra
- Podia
- Membervault
- Squarespace
- Teachable
- Thinkific
I’ve also tested out the self-hosted method over at The Unconventional Business hub, the small business marketing hub I used to co-run, using:
- Thrive Apprentice
- Membermouse
- Memberpress
And of course, being someone who is always developing their knowledge, I’ve also experienced all of the above as a ‘student’ user as well as a course creator – which is just as important!
While it may seem prudent to go over all the above online course platforms, I’m going to keep this post more on point and only talk about the two platforms I have most recent experience with, so that it’s the most helpful it can be.
Some of the links in this article are affiliate links. This means that I may receive a fee at no extra cost to you if you purchase a recommended product.
Teachable
When I first started looking for a host for my online course, I turned to Teachable. I naively bought a one year annual plan – back then it cost $399 – during a summit that they ran back in early 2016. In all honesty, I didn’t really use it much at that point, and I ended up wasting much of the $399 that I spent, because I wasn’t ready to launch anything until the end of the year.
But, the process of setting up my online school and adding the course content was very intuitive. In fact, Teachable might actually be my favorite in terms of ease of use when setting up an online course!
Free Trial With Teachable
When you visit their website, you’ll have the option to select one of three plans, as a free trial. You’ll have 14 days to have a poke around, and see what it’s all about. You can create a course, during those 14 days but you won’t be able to sell it until you have a paid account with them.
This is a big change from how they used to operate, where you had an account for free and they took a bigger cut of the amount you charged your students. I guess it came down to cutting the number of ‘online schools’ that were created and then abandoned.
Paid Plans with Teachable
As of 2025, Teachable offers the following plans:
- Basic: $59 per month
- Pro: $159 per month
- Pro+: $249 per month
Teachable Basic Plan
The basic plan on Teachable is priced at $59 per month on a monthly plan. Your transaction fee is 5% of every product sold, and there are limitations on how many published items you can sell:
- 5 courses
- 5 coaching
- 5 digital downloads
- 1 membership tier
You can also create coupon codes, drip your course content out and connect your email service provider! Just be aware that if you connect Teachable to Kit (formerly ConvertKit) using the API option, it will pull any products you create in Teachable and they will stick to your Kit account permanently. This ends up clogging up your Kit tags and segments area, which I found frustrating but which Kit claimed they couldn’t clean up.
The basic Teachable plan is the plan that I used – it was a great plan back then, and still is today.
Teachable Pro Plan
The Pro plan will get you all of the above, but zero transaction fees and the option to make your school almost completely unbranded! They also integrate affiliate marketing too on this plan, so you can make additional sales through any affiliates that you sign up.
In addition your limits for the number of products you can sell increases to:
- 50 courses
- 50 coaching
- 50 digital downloads
- Unlimited membership tiers
You’ll also be able to have up to 5 admin or author seats which makes it possible for you to have an assistant access your account to help with setup and customer service as well as including other teachers in your ‘school’ area.
For all of the above the price is currently $159 per month, or $119 per month when payed as an annual lump sum.
Teachable Pro+ Plan
The Pro+ plan is the all-in plan. I’m not sure I’d personally ever have a need for this plan, but if you think you’ll sell online to corporates, this is probably a great option!
Included in the Pro+ is:
- 200 courses
- 200 coaching
- 200 digital downloads
- 200 product bundles
All plans also have the option to set up instant payouts (something that wasn’t an option back in 2016 and 2017!) via Teachable Payment. Did I mention that they’ll also handle the EU VAT for you too?
Teachable As A Student
From a student’s perspective, Teachable is the first platform I had experience with. I find it easy to navigate the courses I have access to, and have had no issues with any type of content whether video lesson playback, text based lessons or PDF downloads.
It isn’t as minimal (basic looking) as Kajabi or Podia, but is in no way ‘cluttered’ either.
If you’d like to test them out, you can sign up for a free 14 day teachable trial right here!
Thinkific
I have left Thinkific until last, as it is not only the course hosting platform that I use, but it’s also (in my opinion) the best online platform for hosting courses (for my needs) and the one which I have the ‘longest’ amount of experience using.
When I first tested Thinkific out back in 2017 (for a membership that I offered, I tested out both Thinkific and Teachable to see which performed best) I ended up feeling quite disappointed with the platform for several reasons, but all of them came down to cost.
I was used to doing things on a shoestring budget which meant not investing in the tools that would make running my business faster and smoother. So I stuck with the free account on Teachable and complained about Thinkific not offering the same functionality for free.
In 2019 I tried out Thinkific again, and found it more intuitive to use than Teachable.
I also discovered that they had an integration with Shopify – I could connect the two, and drive traffic to my online shop from my blog and from search engines, and list my courses on the shop to be delivered by Thinkific. Win!
Thinkific offers three plans for individuals and one for business:
- Basic: $49 per month
- Start: $99 per month
- Grow: $199 per month
- Plus: no pricing given
Thinkific Basic Plan
As well as instant access to your income, order bumps and email automation, the Basic plan includes:
- Unlimited courses
- 5 digital downloads
- 5 coaching / webinar sessions
- 1 community
You can also have a custom domain, drip your content out, connect Thinkific Apps (great if you have a Shopify store!) and integrate your email service providers via Zapier.
Thinkific Start Plan
The Start Plan may be double the price of the basic plan from Thinkific, but you get everything included in Basic, as well as the option to hide courses or make them private, create memberships and product bundles, set assignments, create communities and include advanced pricing options.
The number of live events with your communities is also unlimited which is great for those who want to engage and build greater trust with their community.
Thinkific Grow Plan
This is the top level plan for individuals from Thinkific! It includes everything already mentioned plus more to help you build an education empire – their words, not mine!
Thinkific As A Student
I have access to quite a few online course hosted on the Thinkific platform, and I have to say, it isn’t as minimal in design as Podia and Kajabi, but it’s also not as ‘designed’ as Teachable and Kartra.
It’s a great ‘in the middle’ platform. The course content is broken into modules and lessons and there is a sidebar on the left hand side where you can see the course content. I’ve never had any issues accessing content – all content is uploaded directly to Thinkific, even videos! – and the course ‘sidebar’ works well by collapsing any modules that you’re not accessing in that moment. This really helps me to stay on track.
I personally love Thinkific (especially as they offer a 30 day trial here) as both a creator and consumer of online course material and strongly recommend it!
Other Digital Product Hosts
There are of course other ways that you can deliver online courses and digital products. Some that I have used and found value in are:
- Gumroad
- Sendowl
- PayHip
- Easy Digital Download
- WooCommerce
- Shopify
- Squarespace
I’ll cover these in another post to keep this one on point, but all of them are good ways to deliver digital products!
My Final Thoughts Comparing Thinkific to Teachable
There are of course many other platforms out there that will allow you to host your online courses and build an educational empire, but as I have no experience with them, I’m not about to start giving you the ins and outs on them – that’s not how I roll.
Both of the platforms that I covered here, I have had experience with and have found value in, which makes either of these platforms a good choice for you – but which one you go for should be based upon the needs of your business now, and how you think – or intend – for it to grow.
For me, I need to have my main website (this one) on WordPress because of the advertising income I earn. This made an all-in-one solution like Kartra or Kajabi unnecessary for me. For you, they could be perfect, as you’ll have everything in the one place.
While Teachable is a very good platform to use, the Shopify integration that Thinkific offers makes it a perfect option for anyone planning a merchant integration with their Pinterest account.
It really does come down to what you want to get out of building an online course area.
I hope this has been helpful when deciding which of the online course hosting platforms you should consider – let me know in the comments which one you’ll be going for!
And a reminder that you can get a 30 day trial of Thinkific here and a 14 day trial of Teachable here.