Head to head · Both re-checked 27 August 2026
Teachable vs Thinkific: the 0% fee has a condition nobody mentions
Short answer: which one is cheaper depends on your payment processor, not just your revenue. Thinkific's advertised 0% platform fee applies when you use Thinkific Payments. On your own Stripe it charges a surcharge instead — reported at 5% on its entry plan. Teachable charges 7.5% on its entry plan and nothing from Builder up. So if you want your own Stripe, Teachable's $69 Builder plan may well beat Thinkific's $40 Basic. If you're happy on Thinkific Payments, Thinkific is cheaper. Work that out before anything else.
We have no affiliate relationship with Teachable or Thinkific. Neither company pays us anything, whichever one you choose. We do earn a commission from Systeme.io, which appears near the end of this page as a third option — that link goes to our Systeme.io review, and the affiliate link sits on that page rather than this one.
These two are close enough on features that comparing them line by line is mostly a waste of your afternoon. Both host courses, both take payments, both handle students, both look fine.
What separates them is how each takes its cut — and the headline version of that, repeated in nearly every comparison you'll find including an earlier version of this one, is wrong by omission.
The condition on Thinkific's 0%
Thinkific advertises 0% platform transaction fees, and that is accurate. It is also conditional in a way its pricing page does not lead with: the 0% applies when you process payments through Thinkific Payments, its own processor.
Use your own Stripe account instead — which many creators prefer, for reconciliation, payout timing, or because it's already wired into their business — and Thinkific's published gateway-fee documentation adds a surcharge on top of Stripe's normal rates: reported at 5% on Basic, 2% on Start and 1% on Grow.
One thing we can't settle for you, and we'd rather say so. At least one current source states this surcharge was removed in primary markets during 2026. Most other current sources — including the same publisher's own separate article, and reviews from this month — still list it as active. We're not going to pick whichever version reads better. If you intend to use your own Stripe, confirm this on Thinkific's own gateway-fee page before you choose on the strength of the 0%. It is the single most consequential number on this page.
The short answer
| Your situation | Pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Happy to use Thinkific Payments | Thinkific | Genuine 0% platform fee, and it compounds as you grow |
| You want your own Stripe | Teachable, probably | Builder at $69 charges 0% with any processor — confirm Thinkific's surcharge first |
| Selling very little yet | Teachable | Starter at $29 is the cheapest way in, fee and all |
| You need a specific integration | Teachable | Larger third-party ecosystem of the course platforms we cover — check yours |
| Selling into many countries | Teachable | Better tax handling, done for you |
| First course, still building | Neither yet | See the third option below |
What each costs
| Plan | Annual | Monthly | Platform fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Teachable Starter | $29 | $39 | 7.5% — 1 product, 100 students |
| Teachable Builder | $69 | $89 | 0%, any processor. The real entry point if you sell regularly |
| Teachable Growth | $139 | $189 | 0%. No student cap, advanced marketing |
| Thinkific Basic | $40 | $54 | 0% on Thinkific Payments; reported 5% on your own Stripe |
| Thinkific Start | $82 | $109 | 0% on Thinkific Payments; reported 2% on your own Stripe. Adds memberships and payment plans |
| Thinkific Grow | $164 | $219 | 0% on Thinkific Payments; reported 1% on your own Stripe. Adds branding removal |
US dollars per month. Payment processor fees — around 2.9% + 30¢ — apply on both platforms regardless, and are separate from everything above. Thinkific raised prices roughly 10% on 13 August 2026, immediately for new customers and at the next renewal for existing ones, so any source quoting Basic at $36 is out of date. Teachable's annual plans lock you in for the year while its monthly plans can be cancelled; Thinkific's annual is paid as a lump sum up front. Teachable also sells an Advanced tier at $309/$399 and Thinkific an Expand and a custom Plus tier, all above the range most readers here need. Neither has a permanent free plan any more — Teachable offers a 7-day trial with a card required and is widely reported to carry a 30-day money-back guarantee; Thinkific offers a 30-day trial. Compiled from current published sources and checked 27 August 2026 rather than read from a logged-in account — confirm both on teachable.com and thinkific.com before you commit.
Watch which Teachable you're reading about
Teachable replaced its old Free / Basic / Pro / Business plans with Starter, Builder, Growth and Advanced, and many guides published this year still describe the retired ladder. The tell is a 5% transaction fee or a free plan — both belonged to the old structure and neither exists now. The figures in those guides are real; they just belong to plans you can't buy.
The fee, in money
Take $1,000 a month in course sales and price the realistic options, ignoring the processor's own 2.9% + 30¢ since it applies either way:
| Option | Monthly cost at $1,000 sales |
|---|---|
| Teachable Starter | $29 + $75 fee = $104 |
| Teachable Builder | $69 + $0 = $69 |
| Thinkific Basic, Thinkific Payments | $40 + $0 = $40 |
| Thinkific Basic, own Stripe | $40 + $50 surcharge = $90 |
That table is the whole comparison. On Thinkific Payments, Thinkific is comfortably cheapest. On your own Stripe, Teachable's Builder plan beats it. And Teachable's cheap plan is the most expensive option on the list at this revenue — which is the trap most people actually fall into.
Teachable's own crossover, corrected
Teachable sells a 0% tier, so there's a break-even inside Teachable before you compare platforms at all. The gap from Starter to Builder is $40 a month on annual billing ($50 monthly), and the fee is 7.5%.
So the crossover is around $533 a month in sales on annual billing, or about $667 if you pay monthly. Past that, Starter is the more expensive plan while giving you less.
An earlier version of this page put that crossover at $700–$1,000, which was too high — it was working from a mix of Teachable's current and retired fee structures. If you took that advice, you likely stayed on the fee-paying plan longer than you needed to.
Where Teachable genuinely wins
- An unconditional 0% platform fee from Builder up — no processor requirement attached to it
- The larger third-party integration ecosystem of the course platforms we cover — more connectors, more tutorials, more problems already solved publicly
- Better multi-country tax handling, which matters more than people expect once you sell outside your own market
- The cheapest way in at $29, if your volume genuinely is small
- Built-in affiliate program management for your own course
Where Thinkific genuinely wins
- A true 0% platform fee on every plan through Thinkific Payments, which at most revenue levels makes it the cheapest of the two
- Quizzes, surveys, completion certificates and drip content, though several of these sit a tier above Basic rather than on it — check the specific ones you need
- A 30-day trial, against Teachable's 7 days
- Generally considered the more forgiving of the two to set up, which matters if this is your first course. That's how people who have used both describe it, not a rating of ours — see how we choose
Where both have got worse
- Neither has a permanent free plan any more. Teachable removed its free tier in 2025; Thinkific retired a genuinely good one. Both now offer trials only
- Both restructured pricing recently, and both moved existing customers rather than grandfathering them. Thinkific's most recent rise reaches existing customers at their next renewal
- Student caps are worth checking rather than assuming: reports differ on whether Thinkific's named plans still carry a 10,000-student ceiling, and Teachable's Starter caps at 100
- Any review written before 2026 is quoting plans that no longer exist. A lot of them are still ranking
Two things to confirm before you choose
Your processor. If you want to keep your own Stripe, confirm Thinkific's current gateway surcharge on its own documentation. That one number can reverse this entire comparison, and current sources disagree about whether it still applies.
Your country. Thinkific's 0% applies in its primary markets. In some countries a transaction fee applies unless you use Thinkific Payments. If you're outside the US — and if you're reading this in Australia, that includes you — check this before choosing on the strength of the fee alone.
The third option: do you need either?
A course platform earns its cost when the learning experience is the product — quizzes, certificates, drip content, completion tracking. If that's what you're selling, one of these two is right.
But if your course is a video series sold to your own list, you may be buying a second subscription for a job your existing tools already do. An all-in-one like Systeme.io hosts courses inside a plan you might already be paying for, and its free tier includes one course at no cost.
The honest limitations, which we state on every page that mentions it: Systeme.io has no quizzes, no certificates and no drip content on any plan. Its free tier also puts Systeme.io branding on your pages, and removing that means its $17 tier. If quizzes or certificates matter to you, it is not a substitute for Teachable or Thinkific and you should stop considering it.
Disclosure: among the tools named on this page, Systeme.io is the one that pays us a commission — Teachable, Thinkific and Kajabi all pay us nothing, whichever you choose. Other tools we cover pay us as well; every page says so where it applies. We've named Systeme.io's biggest weaknesses in the paragraph directly above for exactly that reason: weigh this recommendation knowing which way our incentive points.
Questions
Which is actually cheaper?
It depends on your processor before it depends on your revenue. On Thinkific Payments, Thinkific — Basic at $40 with a genuine 0% beats Teachable's Builder at $69. On your own Stripe, the reported 5% surcharge on Thinkific Basic makes Teachable Builder cheaper at most revenue levels. Confirm Thinkific's current surcharge before deciding, because sources disagree about whether it still applies.
Is Thinkific's 0% transaction fee real?
Yes, with a condition the marketing doesn't lead with: it applies when you process through Thinkific Payments. Bring your own Stripe and Thinkific's published gateway-fee documentation adds a surcharge — reported at 5% on Basic, 2% on Start, 1% on Grow. One current source says that surcharge was removed in primary markets during 2026; most others, including more recent ones, say it's still live. We're not going to guess which, so check it yourself if you plan to use your own processor.
When should I move off Teachable's cheapest plan?
Around $533 a month in sales on annual billing, or about $667 on monthly. That's the point where the 7.5% fee on Starter exceeds the $40 gap to Builder. Past it, the cheap plan is the expensive one — and because the fee comes out of your sales rather than arriving as a bill, most people never notice.
Does either have a free plan?
Not any more. Teachable removed its free tier in 2025 and Thinkific retired one too. Teachable offers a 7-day trial with a card required, and its published terms are widely reported to include a 30-day money-back guarantee; Thinkific offers a 30-day trial. If a permanent free option is what you need, neither is it — see the third option above.
Can I move between them later?
You can, but budget for real work: re-uploading content, rebuilding your course structure, migrating students and re-issuing their access. That migration cost is the main argument for doing this arithmetic before you start rather than after — and for paying monthly until you're sure, since Teachable's annual plan commits you for the year.
What about Kajabi?
Different job and a much higher price — it replaces your email platform and website as well as hosting courses, and there's no configuration where it takes nothing per sale. It's aimed at established creators consolidating a whole stack, not at choosing a first course platform. See Kajabi vs Teachable.
How to decide, in one sitting
Answer the processor question first: do you want to keep your own Stripe, or are you happy taking payments through Thinkific? That single answer moves the cheapest option by tens of dollars a month, and it's the thing almost no comparison of these two asks you.
Then estimate your course revenue for the next twelve months — honestly, not optimistically — and price the four options in the table above at that number. Then check two things on the vendors' own sites: today's tier prices, and whether Thinkific's gateway surcharge and 0% apply in your country and with your processor.
Read the full Thinkific review →
Read the full Teachable review →
Neither of these links earns us anything. We have no affiliate relationship with either company.