Teachable vs Thinkific: Where the Fees Land

Teachable's cheapest plan takes 7.5% of every sale. Thinkific's cheapest plan takes nothing above the card fee. That one row moves more money than the subscription difference does, and it is the row buyers most often read wrong, because three separate charges are all described as fees on these pages: a platform cut, a card processing rate, and a gateway surcharge for using an outside processor. This note sets out what each vendor publishes, as read on October 11, 2026, and does the arithmetic that shows where the cheap plan stops being cheap.

Three different charges get called a fee, and only one is a platform cut

A platform cut is a percentage the course platform keeps. Teachable publishes one: "7.5%" on Starter, and "0%*" on Builder, Growth and Custom.

A card processing rate is what the payment network keeps. Teachable publishes "U.S. cards 2.9% + 30c; International 3.9% + 30c". Thinkific publishes "pricing in line with other processors like Stripe and Paypal at 2.9%" through its own processor.

A gateway surcharge is a third charge for routing payment outside the platform. Thinkific states that with "third-party processors like Stripe or Paypal on Thinkific, an additional third-party payment gateway fee applies and it varies per plan type."

The amount of that surcharge is not printed on the pricing page. What is printed is the way out of it: "Customers processing payments on Thinkific Payments will not incur a third-party payment gateway fee."

So the honest comparison is platform cut against platform cut. On that row Teachable Starter is 7.5% and Thinkific Basic is nothing, and both still pay roughly 2.9% to the card network on top.

Teachable's 7.5% is the most expensive row on either page

Teachable lists Starter at $39 a month, Builder at $89, Growth at $189 and Custom by sales enquiry. Annual billing is advertised as "22% savings" and prices the same plans at $29, $69 and $139 a month.

The published dollar savings are "Save $120", "Save $240" and "Save $600" respectively, which reproduce exactly from the per-month gap multiplied by twelve. That check is ours.

Products run 5, 10 and 50 on Starter, Builder and Growth. Admin users run 1, 1 and 5. Video storage is listed as "Up to 1TB" on all three.

A product is not a course, and the page does not define it. That undefined unit behaves exactly like the undefined contact row described in the funnel builder pricing page guide: a number without a rule attached.

Certificates and removing Teachable branding start at Growth. An affiliate program starts at Builder. API requests appear only on Growth, at "10,000/month". Payouts are monthly on Starter and daily on Builder and Growth through Teachable Payments.

Editorial arithmetic: Starter stops being the cheap plan near $667 a month in sales

The gap between Starter and Builder is $50 a month at list price. Starter's extra cost is 7.5% of sales. Dividing $50 by 0.075 gives about $667 of monthly sales.

Below roughly $667 a month in course revenue, Starter costs less. Above it, Builder costs less and the gap widens with every sale. This calculation is ours, from Teachable's published figures only.

At $5,000 a month in sales the difference is stark: Starter is $39 plus $375 in platform fees, against $89 and nothing on Builder. That is $414 versus $89 before card processing.

Annual billing shifts the crossover rather than removing it. At $29 and $69 a month the gap is $40, so the break-even moves to about $533 of monthly sales on the same arithmetic.

Thinkific publishes a student definition, which almost no vendor does

Its plans are Basic at $54 a month, Start at $109 and Grow at $219, with annual prices of $40, $82 and $164 and published savings of "Save $173", "Save $330" and "Save $660".

Courses are listed as unlimited on all three. The metered row is students, capped at "10,000" on Basic, Start and Grow alike, with Plus listed as "Custom".

The definition is the useful part: "Unique students who currently have unexpired access to at least one course on your site." Expired access therefore stops counting, which is a lever a buyer can actually pull.

Administrators run 1, 2 and 6. Communities run 1, 1 and 3. API access and webhooks start at Grow, and Grow is also where Thinkific branding is removed. The trial is thirty days.

Thirty days is long enough to test the thing that actually matters, which is a real purchase running end to end through checkout. Scheduling that rather than hoping for it is the point of the free trial checklist.

The rows that decide the plan are not the fee rows

• Admin seats. Teachable gives 1 on Starter and Builder, 5 on Growth. Thinkific gives 1, 2 and 6. If two people need logins, Thinkific Start at $109 beats Teachable Growth at $189.
• What the unit is. Teachable meters products, at 5, 10 and 50. Thinkific meters students, at 10,000 on every standard plan, and leaves courses unlimited. These are not comparable units.
• Trial length. Thinkific publishes thirty days. Teachable's pricing page publishes no trial length that was readable on October 11, 2026.
• Branding removal. Growth on Teachable at $189 a month, Grow on Thinkific at $219. Both are the third tier, and both gate the same thing.
• API. Teachable Growth caps it at 10,000 requests a month. Thinkific lists API access and webhooks on Grow without publishing a request cap.
• Payout speed. Teachable publishes monthly payouts on Starter and daily on the two tiers above. Thinkific's pricing page publishes no payout schedule.

That last pattern repeats across this category, and it is the reason a feature table is a poor shopping tool. The rows worth reading in order are listed in our guide to reading a funnel builder pricing page.

Frequently asked questions

Does Thinkific charge a transaction fee?

Not a platform cut. Its page states that Thinkific Payments charges 2.9%, "in line with other processors like Stripe and Paypal", and that using an outside processor adds "a third-party payment gateway fee" that "varies per plan type" and is not published.

How much does Teachable take per sale?

7.5% on Starter and "0%*" on Builder, Growth and Custom, per the pricing page checked October 11, 2026. Card processing is separate at 2.9% plus 30 cents on U.S. cards, 3.9% plus 30 cents internationally.

At what point should I upgrade off Teachable Starter?

Around $667 a month in sales at list prices, or about $533 on annual billing. That is the $50 or $40 plan gap divided by the 7.5% Starter fee. The arithmetic is ours, from published figures.

Which platform is cheaper for a first course?

Teachable Starter at $39 a month is the lowest subscription, and it is genuinely cheapest below roughly $667 of monthly sales. Thinkific Basic at $54 costs more per month and takes no platform cut at any volume.

How many students can I have?

Thinkific caps current students at 10,000 on Basic, Start and Grow, counting "unique students who currently have unexpired access to at least one course". Teachable's pricing page publishes no student cap, metering products instead at 5, 10 and 50.

Can two people work in the same account?

On Thinkific yes, from Start at $109 a month, which lists 2 administrators. On Teachable the second admin seat arrives on Growth at $189 a month, since Starter and Builder both list 1 admin user.

Is annual billing worth it on either platform?

Both publish real discounts. Teachable's own savings rows are $120, $240 and $600 a year; Thinkific's are $173, $330 and $660. Both lock the plan ceiling for twelve months, which matters more on Thinkific's student cap.

Bottom line

Read the fee rows as three separate charges, not one. The platform cut is the only one the course platform controls, and it is 7.5% on Teachable Starter and nothing on every other plan named here.

Then price the plan on seats and units rather than on the headline. Teachable meters products; Thinkific meters students and publishes what a student is, which is the clearer of the two definitions.

Whichever page you are reading, confirm the fee rows inside the account before the second invoice. The order to work through is in the funnel builder pricing page guide, and the day-by-day version for a trial is the free trial checklist.

Teachable's pricing page did not publish a trial length that could be read on October 11, 2026, so plan the test around Thinkific's published thirty days if a trial is the deciding factor. The same discipline applies either way, as in our fourteen-day testing plan.