11 Best Teachable Alternatives in 2026 (Verified Pricing)

If you sell a $5,000-a-month course on Teachable’s Starter plan, the platform takes $375 in transaction fees, every month. That is $4,500 a year before you have even paid for the subscription. The fee scales with your success, and it is the single biggest reason creators are searching for a Teachable alternative this year.

Teachable’s free plan was retired and their trial is now 7 days. The lower tiers gate features that creators on competing platforms get on day one. None of that makes Teachable a bad product, but it has tipped the maths against a lot of creators on the Starter plan.

This guide compares the 11 best Teachable alternatives in 2026, with verified rent 2026 pricing, a real cost-math table at $1K, $5K, $10K and $20K monthly revenue, an honest “stay on Teachable if…” section, and a 5-step migration path. If your goal is simply to sell online courses without giving up a cut of every sale, you have more options than the top three SERP results would suggest.

Why creators are leaving Teachable in 2026

Teachable still has a clean course builder, a passable checkout, and a brand most coaches recognise. But three shifts have made it a worse value than it was twelve months ago.

The Starter plan now charges a 7.5% transaction fee. On verified recent 2026 pricing, the Starter tier is $29 per month billed annually ($39 monthly) and Teachable takes 7.5% of every sale. That fee disappears on Builder ($69 annual / $89 monthly) and Growth ($139 annual / $189 monthly), but only if you can justify the jump.

The free plan is gone. New creators who used to test Teachable for weeks before committing now get a 7-day trial. That is the shortest window of any major course platform on this list.

The feature gaps got wider. Communities, custom domains, advanced affiliate tools, and the better email features sit on Growth and above. On Builder, you are mostly paying for course hosting plus a basic checkout.

If any of those line up with why you started looking for alternatives to Teachable, the rest of this guide will help you pick the right one.

What to look for in a Teachable alternative

There are eleven good options below, but no single platform wins on every axis. If you are also weighing the broader category of best membership platforms, the same five criteria apply. These are the criteria that matter most when you are choosing.

1. Transaction fee structure. This is the line item most creators underestimate. A 7.5% fee on $10K a month is $9,000 a year. A 0% fee is $0. The numbers are not close.
2. What’s included on the entry plan. Some platforms gate communities, custom domains, or affiliates behind the second or third tier. Map the features you actually need against the cheapest plan that includes them.
3. Course-plus-community in one tool. Most creators eventually want both. Stitching a separate community tool onto a course platform via Zapier works until it doesn’t.
4. Migration friendliness. Can you export student records cleanly? Are videos hosted natively or held hostage? Will the platform help you import?
5. Trial length. A 7-day window is too short to test a checkout flow seriously. 14 to 30 days lets you actually evaluate the product.

Keep those five in mind as you scan the platforms below.

The 11 best Teachable alternatives at a glance

The 11 best Teachable alternatives in detail

A note on terminology before we dive in. Searches for “teachable competitors”, “sites like teachable” and “platforms like teachable” all return the same underlying intent: creators looking for a better-fit course platform. The list below covers every common variant.

Kourses: the best all-in-one Teachable alternative for membership creators

Kourses is a membership platform built for creators who want courses, community and checkout in one place, with no transaction fees on any plan. Plans start at $9 per month billed annually for Starter, $49 for Pro, and $79 for Unlimited.

The core trade you are making against Teachable is simple. Teachable’s Starter charges 7.5% on every sale. Kourses charges 0% on every plan. On $5,000 a month in revenue, that gap is $4,500 a year.

You also get the full member experience on the entry plan: courses, private community spaces, conversion-optimised checkout, order bumps, abandoned cart recovery and a fully branded portal on a custom domain.

Pros: 0% transaction fees on every plan; courses, community and checkout natively integrated; 14-day free trial; fully branded member portal on your own domain; built by founders who ran their own membership sites.

Cons: No native mobile app yet (members access via mobile web); newer brand than Teachable, so fewer YouTube tutorials and third-party templates.

Best for: creators who want one tool to handle everything from a launch funnel to a paid community, without a platform fee eating into every sale. See how Kourses compares to Teachable directly for the head-to-head.

Kajabi: the premium all-in-one alternative

Kajabi is the most direct premium alternative to Teachable. Verified 2026 pricing puts Kajabi Basic at $143 per month billed annually ($179 monthly) with 0% transaction fees, Growth at $199/$249, and Pro at $399/$499.

The Basic plan gives you five products, one website, one community and 250 contacts. Growth raises that to 50 products and 25,000 contacts. Growth at $199 a month annual is the plan most established Kajabi creators end up on.

Pros:Mature ecosystem and integrations; strong email marketing and pipelines built in; 14-day free trial.

Cons: 2 to 0.5% transaction fees across their plans. Genuinely expensive at scale; lower tiers cap products and contacts aggressively; the platform can feel heavy for solo creators selling one course.

Best for: established creators with budget for a premium platform and revenue to match. If you are weighing Kajabi alternatives more broadly, we have a dedicated guide, and a head-to-head Kourses vs Kajabi comparison.

Thinkific: the course-first alternative

Thinkific is the platform most creators put head-to-head against Teachable. It has a clean course builder, a 30-day free trial, and a strong reputation for student experience.

We are not citing specific Thinkific dollar figures here because the public pricing page is geo-routed and we want to give you the price you will actually see in your region. Check thinkific.com/pricing for live tiers before you commit.

Pros: Polished course-creation experience; strong analytics and quizzing tools; long-running platform with a deep template library.

Cons: Communities sit on higher tiers; the checkout is functional but not as conversion-led as Kourses or Kajabi; some advanced features live in paid add-ons.

Best for: traditional course creators whose business model is “launch a course, deliver it well.” See our deeper take on Thinkific alternatives if you are comparing both, or jump to the head-to-head Kourses vs Thinkific page.

Podia: the budget Teachable alternative with a generous free trial

If “free plan removed” is the line that made you start searching, Podia is worth a close look. Podia offers a 30-day free trial, the longest on this list, before committing to a paid plan. Mover is $33 per month billed annually ($39 monthly) with a 5% transaction fee. Shaker is $75 annual ($89 monthly) with 0%.

The Shaker tier removes transaction fees entirely and unlocks unlimited products. For creators who need time to validate demand before paying, the 30-day trial gives the most runway of any platform here.

Pros: 30-day free trial, the longest on this list; clean, opinionated UI; Shaker tier removes transaction fees entirely.

Cons: Lacks the depth of Kajabi or Kourses on community and checkout funnels; Mover’s 5% transaction fee adds up fast at scale.

Best for: new creators who want to validate demand before committing to a paid plan. We also have a Podia vs Teachable comparison if you want a head-to-head.

Mighty Networks: the community-led alternative

Mighty Networks is the platform to compare against Teachable if “course-first” is not how you want to build. Mighty leads with community and adds courses, live events and live streams on top. Verified 2026 pricing puts Launch at $79 per month billed annually ($95 monthly) and Scale at $179 per month billed annually ($215 monthly). Mighty Pro is custom pricing arranged through their sales team.

Mighty does not charge a platform transaction fee, but the entry plan jumped meaningfully in the last year, so the comparison against Teachable’s Starter is no longer about price.

Pros: Genuinely community-first design; native live streams and events; AI features on higher tiers; 14-day free trial.

Cons: Pricing has moved up faster than peers; Launch tier limits feel tight for creators who outgrow it.

Best for: community-led businesses where the courses are the supporting cast, not the lead. See our Mighty Networks alternatives guide for broader options, or the direct Kourses vs Mighty Networks comparison.

Skool: the gamified community alternative

Skool has carved out a very specific lane: paid communities with gamification, leaderboards and free-form courses bolted in. Verified 2026 pricing keeps the Hobby tier at $9 per month with a 10% transaction fee, and the Pro tier at $99 per month with a 2.9% fee.

The 2.9% Pro fee is roughly the same as Stripe’s processing rate, so the platform fee is effectively absorbed at higher tiers. The Hobby tier’s 10% fee, however, hurts at scale.

Pros: Strong community engagement mechanics; flat $99 Pro pricing is competitive at scale; built-in affiliate program; 14-day free trial.

Cons: Course builder is minimal compared to Kajabi or Teachable; 10% Hobby fee is steep; less suited to traditional cohort-based or production-heavy courses.

Best for: creators whose product is the community first and the course library second.

Circle: the community-first alternative with course features

Circle is one of the most polished community platforms on the market, and it now offers courses as part of its higher tiers. Verified 2026 pricing lists Professional at $89 per month billed annually and Business at $199.

Circle does not publicly disclose its transaction fee percentages on the main pricing page. The Plus tier explicitly markets “lower transaction fees”, implying Professional and Business charge a fee on paid memberships. Verify the exact percentage with sales before you commit.

Pros: Best-in-class community UX; strong integrations and APIs; native live streams and events; 14-day free trial.

Cons: Transaction fee structure not fully transparent on the page; courses feel like a secondary feature compared to a true LMS.

Best for: creators where the community is the product and the courses are a supporting layer.

LearnWorlds: the interactive LMS alternative

LearnWorlds is the closest thing on this list to a “real LMS” experience. It is built for creators producing interactive video lessons, quizzes, certificates and corporate training.

We are not citing specific LearnWorlds prices because the live page tiers shift frequently. Pull current pricing from learnworlds.com/pricing before you compare.

Pros: Interactive video player with in-video quizzing; native certificates and SCORM support; strong corporate-training fit.

Cons: Steeper learning curve than Teachable; higher-tier pricing aimed at enterprise; less suited to community-led creators.

Best for: creators selling certification programs, professional training, or interactive LMS-style courses. See our LearnWorlds alternatives guide for a wider sweep.

Kartra: the funnels-first alternative

Kartra is built around marketing funnels with courses included. If your business is more “high-converting evergreen funnel” than “course-first creator”, Kartra trades a higher monthly cost for a deeper marketing toolkit.

We are not citing specific Kartra prices here because tiers have been shifting. Pull current pricing from the live page before deciding.

Pros: Powerful funnel builder with split testing; native email and automation; helpdesk, calendar and video hosting included.

Cons: Heavy and complex compared to Teachable; you pay for tools you may already use elsewhere; pricing escalates fast on higher tiers.

Best for: marketers running launches and evergreen funnels where the course is one product among many.

Memberful: the WordPress-led membership alternative

Memberful is purpose-built for membership and subscription businesses that want to run on WordPress. Verified 2026 pricing lists Standard at $49 per month plus a 4.9% transaction fee. The platform stays free until you start accepting payments, which makes it easy to set up first and pay later.

Pros: Clean WordPress integration; predictable single Standard plan; “free until you go live” model removes setup risk.

Cons: Flat 4.9% transaction fee on every sale; courses are not the focus; if you want a full members’ portal experience, you will build it in WordPress yourself.

Best for: creators with an existing WordPress site who want subscriptions, gated content and a member directory without rebuilding. See our Memberful alternatives guide for the broader market.

Gumroad: the lightweight digital product alternative

Gumroad is the right Teachable alternative if your product is “one digital download” rather than “a structured course”. It is cheap to start, painless to set up, and integrates with most creator tools.

We are not citing specific Gumroad fees here because the platform’s fee schedule has shifted multiple times. Pull current rates from gumroad.com/pricing before launching.

Pros: Minimal setup; familiar to creator-economy buyers; integrates with email tools and creator platforms.

Cons: Built for one-off digital sales, not recurring memberships; community and course features are minimal; transaction fees can be steep depending on plan.

Best for: creators selling ebooks, templates, presets or single downloads. Look at Gumroad’s comparison to Kourses if you also need a course portal.

How Teachable’s 7.5% transaction fee changes the real cost picture

This is the section the other Teachable alternatives roundups skip. Here is what platform fees actually cost you per year at common revenue levels. Stripe processing is excluded; this is only the platform-level fee.

A creator doing $5,000 a month on Teachable Starter pays $4,500 a year in platform transaction fees alone. The same creator on Kourses pays $0. Even the Teachable Builder plan at $69 a month annual ($828 a year) plus 0% fees costs less than Starter once you cross roughly $922 a month in revenue.

If you are sitting on Starter and earning more than that, you are quietly losing money every week you stay. This is why 0% transaction fees is the first thing we lead with at Kourses.

When you should actually stay on Teachable

We try not to pretend every reader should switch. Teachable is the right call in three specific cases.

You are on Builder or Growth selling a single course at modest volume. Once you are past the 7.5% Starter fee, the per-month cost is fine and the platform works.

You are early enough that you do not need community, advanced checkout or affiliates yet. Teachable’s course builder is solid, and switching costs for an unproven product idea outweigh the platform savings.

You are on a corporate or enterprise contract. Teachable’s enterprise tiers are aimed at training departments, and migrating that off is rarely worth the politics.

If none of those describe you, the move is worth doing.

How to move off Teachable in 5 steps

Migrating a course platform sounds harder than it is. Most creators we work with finish in a weekend.

1. Export your student data. Pull a full CSV of students, purchases and progress from Teachable’s admin. Save it before you cancel anything.
2. Re-upload your videos. Most platforms (Kourses included) let you upload directly. If you have transcripts, bring them. If you do not, AI transcriptions on the new platform will fill the gap.
3. Rebuild your course structure. Modules and lessons map cleanly between platforms. Use this step to tidy up the structure you have been meaning to fix.
4. Set up checkout, payment plans and tax. Connect Stripe, replicate your prices, and turn on order bumps and abandoned cart recovery if the platform supports them. This is the step where most creators recover sales they never knew they were missing.
5. Communicate to existing members. Send one clear email explaining the move, new login URL, and what they need to do. Most members will not notice the difference once they log in.

If you migrate to Kourses, we will help manage a seamless migration for you.

Pricing accurate as of May, 2026. Verified from: Teachable, Kajabi, Podia, Mighty Networks, Skool, Memberful, Circle. Thinkific, Gumroad, Kartra and LearnWorlds pricing should be verified directly on each platform’s pricing page before committing.

Frequently asked questions about Teachable alternatives

What is the best free Teachable alternative in 2026?

Neither Teachable nor Podia offers a permanently free plan in 2026, both retired their free tiers. Podia offers a 30-day free trial, the longest on this list, giving you the most runway to validate demand before committing. Kourses offers a 14-day free trial across all plans, including full access to courses, community, and checkout features.

Did Teachable raise its prices in 2026?

Teachable repriced its tiers and added a 7.5% transaction fee on the Starter plan. The free plan was also retired. The mid and upper tiers (Builder and Growth) charge 0% transaction fees, but the entry plan now costs creators more than most direct alternatives.

Does Teachable charge transaction fees?

Yes, on the Starter plan. As of May 2026, Teachable Starter ($29 a month annual, $39 monthly) charges a 7.5% transaction fee on every sale. Builder ($69 annual, $89 monthly) and Growth ($139 annual, $189 monthly) charge 0%.

Which Teachable alternative has the lowest transaction fees?

Kourses and Kajabi all charge 0% platform transaction fees across every plan. You still pay standard Stripe or PayPal processing rates, but the platform takes nothing on top. Podia’s Shaker tier and Teachable’s own Builder and Growth tiers are also 0%.

Is it hard to migrate from Teachable?

No. Teachable lets you export student data and purchase history as a CSV, and most alternative platforms support direct video upload. A creator with one or two courses can typically migrate in a few hours. Larger libraries take longer but follow the same 5-step process.

What is the best Teachable alternative for coaches?

Kourses and Mighty Networks are the strongest fit for coaches. Kourses combines courses, community and a conversion-optimised checkout with 0% transaction fees, which keeps margins healthy on group programs. Mighty Networks suits coaches whose primary product is the community itself.

Final thoughts: the right Teachable alternative depends on what you are building

The best of the Teachable alternatives above depends on what kind of business you are running.

If you sell courses, community and digital products from one tool and the 7.5% Starter fee is what brought you here, Kourses is the lowest-friction switch. Plans start at $9 a month billed annually with 0% transaction fees, a 14-day trial, and a member experience built for the kind of business most creators are actually trying to scale.

If you have the budget for a premium all-in-one, Kajabi is worth it past $10K a month in revenue. If you need to test demand for free, Podia is the closest replacement for Teachable’s retired free plan. If you are community-first, Mighty Networks or Skool fit best.

Whatever you choose, the cost of staying on Teachable Starter past $1,000 a month in revenue is real and measurable. Run the maths once and the decision usually makes itself.

Ready to see what 0% transaction fees actually looks like? Start your 14-day free trial of Kourses, no credit card required.