What will a course platform actually cost you?
The sticker price isn't the real price. Some plans look cheap but take a percentage of every sale. Enter your annual course revenue and see the true cost on Teachable, Thinkific and Kajabi — transaction fees included.
Prices from official pricing pages, verified 2026-07-13. Annual-billing rates.
| Plan | Base /yr | Transaction fee | True total /yr |
|---|
The hidden cost most comparisons miss: transaction fees
Most "Teachable vs Thinkific vs Kajabi" articles compare monthly prices and stop there. But the number that actually decides your bill is the transaction fee — the platform's cut of every sale:
| Platform | Cheapest paid plan | Monthly | Transaction fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Teachable | Starter | $29 | 7.5% |
| Teachable | Builder | $69 | 0% |
| Thinkific | Basic | $36 | 0% |
| Kajabi | Basic | $143 | 0% |
The trap: Teachable's Starter plan is the cheapest sticker ($29/mo) but takes 7.5% of every sale. At $20,000/yr in course sales that's $1,500 in fees — making it far more expensive than Teachable's own fee-free Builder plan. The "cheap" plan is a trap above roughly $6,400/yr in sales.
Full pricing tables
| Plan | $/mo (annual) | Transaction fee |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | $29 | 7.5% |
| Builder | $69 | 0% |
| Growth | $139 | 0% |
| Advanced | $309 | 0% |
| Plan | $/mo (annual) | Transaction fee |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | $36 | 0% |
| Start | $74 | 0% |
| Grow | $149 | 0% |
| Plan | $/mo (annual) | Transaction fee |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | $143 | 0% |
| Growth | $199 | 0% |
| Pro | $399 | 0% |
All three also charge standard payment-processor fees (about 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction via Stripe/PayPal). Those are roughly equal across platforms, so they're excluded above to isolate each platform's own cut.
Methodology
Prices and transaction fees read from each platform's official pricing page on 2026-07-13. The calculator computes true annual cost = monthly fee × 12 + platform transaction fee × your revenue. Payment-processor fees are excluded because they're roughly equal across platforms. Spotted a stale number? tell us.