5 Teachable Alternatives Without the 7.5% Fee (2026)

Disclosure: YourSolopreneurKit.com earns commissions from affiliate links at no extra cost to you. Systeme.io is an affiliate partner. Teachable, Thinkific, Podia, Kajabi and Payhip are not.

How we tested: We tested Systeme.io's free plan in one hands-on session on October 10, 2026. We created a course, added a module and a lesson, and read the plan limits from inside the account. The same day we listed a product on Payhip's free plan. We did not open Teachable, Thinkific, Podia or Kajabi accounts for this article. Their numbers come from each company's public pricing page, checked October 10, 2026.

Teachable's entry plan costs $39 a month and then takes 7.5% of every sale. A course creator selling $2,000 a month pays Teachable $150 in transaction fees on top of the subscription. The plan that removes the fee costs $89 a month. This guide is for people on Teachable's Starter plan who want that fee gone, and it ranks the alternatives by what you keep.

The Short Answer

• Stop paying transaction fees without a bigger bill: Systeme.io. Free plan, one course, 0% platform fee.
• Stay with a dedicated course platform: Thinkific. From $54 a month, unlimited courses.
• Sell courses next to downloads on a free plan: Payhip. $0 a month with a 5% fee.
• You earn enough that software cost is noise: Kajabi, from $179 a month.

Start a course on Systeme.io free →

What Teachable's Fee Costs You

Teachable's pricing page lists three plans. Starter is $39 a month billed monthly, or $29 on annual billing, with a 7.5% transaction fee and a limit of 5 products. Builder is $89 a month with a 0% fee when you use Teachable Payments. Growth is $189. There is no free plan. Teachable describes itself as a paid service with a 7-day trial.

The table adds the Starter subscription to the 7.5% fee at four revenue levels.

Monthly course sales	7.5% fee	Starter plan	Total to Teachable	Per year
$500	$37.50	$39	$76.50	$918
$1,000	$75	$39	$114	$1,368
$2,000	$150	$39	$189	$2,268
$5,000	$375	$39	$414	$4,968

The upgrade to Builder costs $50 more a month. The 7.5% fee passes $50 once you sell about $670 a month. Above that, Starter is the more expensive plan. Teachable knows this. The fee exists to move you up a tier.

Card processing is separate. Stripe or a similar processor charges its own rate on every platform in this article.

Teachable Alternatives Compared

Platform	Free plan	Entry paid price	Platform fee on sales	Tested hands-on?
Teachable	No, 7-day trial	$39/month	7.5% on Starter, 0% from $89	No, pricing page
Systeme.io	Yes: 1 course, 500 students	$17/month	0%	Yes, free plan
Thinkific	No, 30-day trial	$54/month	None listed beyond payment fees	No, pricing page
Podia	No, 14-day trial	$42/month, billed yearly	5% on Mover, none above	No, pricing page
Payhip	Yes, all features	$29/month	5% free, 2% Plus, 0% Pro	Yes, free plan
Kajabi	No	$179/month	None with Kajabi Payments	No, pricing page

1. Systeme.io: No Transaction Fee, Free to Start

Systeme.io is an all-in-one platform: sales funnels, email, courses, a checkout. Its pricing page states "No transaction fees" on every plan, the free one included. For a creator with one course, that removes both the subscription and the 7.5%.

What happened when we built a course

We opened Courses and clicked "Add a new course". The form asks for a name, a URL path and a theme from a grid of previews. The URL path field starts empty and the form will not submit without it. We typed a name, clicked Create, and nothing happened until we filled the path. A small snag, worth knowing.

Inside the course we clicked "Add module", named it, then "Add lecture". The lecture form offers three layouts, including one built around a video, plus a Delay field for drip release and a checkbox for comments.

From the first click to a course with one module and one lesson took about three minutes. The curriculum screen showed the lesson with a "Drip: immediately" label.

The limits we found

The My plan screen lists every cap on the free plan. Four matter to a course creator leaving Teachable:

• 1 course. Teachable Starter allows 5 products. If you sell more than one course, you need Systeme.io's Startup plan at $17 a month, which allows 5.
• 500 students. Paid plans list unlimited students.
• $10,000 sales revenue limit. The free plan stops there. Paid plans list unlimited.
• A payment gateway is required. When we opened a product's checkout settings, Systeme.io showed a notice: connect Stripe or PayPal before you can create a payment page.

One more: we tried to create an email campaign to welcome students, and the form required a sender email address with none available to pick. You set that up in account settings first. We stopped there and did not send any email.

The course player is plain. Teachable's student experience has more polish, with certificates and quizzes on its upper plans. We did not test quizzes or certificates on Systeme.io.

Choose Systeme.io if: you sell one to five courses and want the fee gone. At $2,000 a month in sales, moving from Teachable Starter to Systeme.io's $17 plan saves about $2,060 a year. Our Systeme.io vs Kajabi comparison goes deeper on the course features.

Try Systeme.io free, no card needed →

2. Thinkific: The Closest Like-for-Like

Thinkific is the platform most Teachable users compare first. It does the same job: a course builder, a student area, payments. Its pricing page lists Basic at $54 a month, or $40 on annual billing, with unlimited published courses and one community. Thinkific Payments charges 2.9% processing. The page lists no platform cut on top.

Thinkific has no free plan. Its FAQ says so and offers a 30-day free trial. So the move from Teachable Starter to Thinkific Basic swaps $39 plus 7.5% for a flat $54. That pays off once you sell more than $200 a month.

Choose Thinkific if: you want a dedicated course platform and several courses. We cover its own exits in Thinkific alternatives.

3. Payhip: Free Plan, Smaller Fee

Payhip sells digital downloads, courses, coaching and memberships from one store. Every plan has every feature. You choose how to pay: $0 a month with a 5% fee, $29 with 2%, or $99 with none.

We tested the free plan the same day. Adding a product took about 75 seconds. "Course" is one of the product types on the first screen. The product page then warned buyers that the seller could not take payments until Stripe or PayPal was connected.

A 5% fee beats 7.5%, and it comes with no subscription. At $1,000 a month in sales you pay Payhip $50, against $114 on Teachable Starter. We did not build a course inside Payhip, only a digital product.

Choose Payhip if: you sell a mix of courses and downloads and want $0 fixed cost.

4. Podia: Simple, With Its Own Fee Tier

Podia bundles a website, email and courses. Its pricing page lists the Mover plan at $42 a month on yearly billing with a 5% transaction fee. The Shaker plan at $84 has no fee. There is a 14-day trial and no free plan.

If the fee is your reason for leaving Teachable, Podia's entry plan repeats the pattern at a lower rate. You escape it at $84, close to Teachable Builder's $89.

Choose Podia if: you like its all-in-one simplicity and plan to start on Shaker.

5. Kajabi: For Established Course Businesses

Kajabi is the premium option: courses, coaching, community, email and funnels with a polished student experience. The pricing page lists Basic at $179 a month, or $143 on annual billing, for 5 products and 2,500 contacts.

That is more than four times Teachable Starter. It makes sense when course revenue is in the thousands a month and you want one vendor for everything. See Kajabi alternatives if the price stops you.

How to Move a Course Off Teachable

1. Download your content. Save your videos, PDFs and lesson text. Keep the original video files if you still have them.
2. Export your students. Teachable lets school owners export a student list as a CSV file.
3. Rebuild the curriculum on the new platform's free plan or trial. On Systeme.io, one module and one lesson took us three minutes, so a 20-lesson course is an afternoon of uploading.
4. Connect Stripe or PayPal before you build the sales page. Both Systeme.io and Payhip block payments until you do.
5. Enroll existing students by import or by sending them a free-access link.
6. Handle subscriptions with care. If you sell memberships or payment plans through Teachable Payments, ask Teachable support how those can transfer before you cancel.
7. Redirect your sales links, then downgrade or cancel Teachable after the last student has moved.

We have not run a full Teachable migration. These steps follow each platform's documented export and import tools.

Bottom Line

Teachable's 7.5% fee costs more than its own upgrade once you sell about $670 a month. If you want the fee gone without paying $89, Systeme.io charges no transaction fee and hosts one course free, with honest limits: 500 students and $10,000 in sales. Five courses cost $17 a month. Creators who want a dedicated course platform should price Thinkific at $54. Sellers who mix courses and downloads should look at Payhip.

Open a free Systeme.io account →

Related: best online course platforms for solopreneurs.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which Teachable alternative has no transaction fees?

Systeme.io states no transaction fees on every plan, including the free one. Thinkific lists no platform fee beyond payment processing. Payhip's $99 plan and Podia's $84 plan also have none.

Is there a free alternative to Teachable?

Systeme.io's free plan hosts 1 course for up to 500 students with a $10,000 sales limit. Payhip's free plan has all features with a 5% fee. Teachable itself has no free plan.

How much does Teachable take from each sale?

The Starter plan takes 7.5% of each sale on top of $39 a month. The Builder plan at $89 a month takes 0% when you use Teachable Payments. Card processing fees are separate.

Can I move my students from Teachable?

Yes. Export your student list as a CSV and import it or send access links on the new platform. Ask Teachable support about active subscriptions before you cancel.

Did you test every platform in this article?

No. We built a course on Systeme.io's free plan and listed a product on Payhip's free plan on October 10, 2026. Teachable, Thinkific, Podia and Kajabi are described from their public pricing pages.