You recorded your course. Eight modules, a workbook, a bonus Q&A session. You uploaded everything to Teachable, connected Stripe, picked a template. Then you looked at the pricing page.
The free plan takes a $1 + 10% cut of every sale. The Basic plan is $39/month but still charges a 5% transaction fee. The Pro plan at $119/month drops the transaction fee but adds features you'll never touch: graded quizzes, completion certificates, course compliance, advanced reporting. You're selling one course to your Instagram audience. You don't need compliance tools. You need a checkout and a download link.
That gap between what Teachable offers and what a solo creator actually uses is where the alternatives live.
What Teachable charges and what you're paying for
Teachable's pricing is designed for course businesses, not course creators. The distinction matters. A course business runs multiple courses, needs student management, tracks completion rates, issues certificates, and runs affiliate programs. A course creator has one or two products and an audience that already trusts them.
On the free plan, a $97 course sale costs you $10.70 in Teachable fees alone (the $1 flat fee plus 10%), before Stripe takes its processing cut. Sell 20 courses a month and Teachable takes $214. That's $2,568 a year for hosting some videos and sending download links.
The Basic plan at $39/month reduces the transaction fee to 5% but still takes $4.85 per $97 sale. At 20 sales a month, that's $97 in transaction fees plus $39 subscription. $136/month. $1,632/year.
The Pro plan at $119/month eliminates the transaction fee. But you're paying $1,428 a year before you sell a single course. That only makes economic sense if you're selling enough volume that the transaction fees on the Basic plan would exceed $1,428. That breakeven is around 25 sales per month at $97. Most solo creators aren't there.
Do you actually need a course platform?
Before comparing alternatives, ask a harder question: do you need a course platform at all?
A course platform gives you: a student portal with login, progress tracking, drip-released modules, quizzes, certificates, discussion forums, and analytics on student completion. If your course uses three or more of those features, you need a platform. If it doesn't, you need a payment form and a way to deliver files.
A lot of courses are simpler than their creators think. A pre-recorded course with eight video modules and a PDF workbook doesn't need drip release or progress tracking. It needs a page that explains what the course covers, a checkout that takes payment, and an email that delivers the access link. Everything else is overhead.
If your course is a set of video files plus materials, the lean course setup covers exactly how to deliver it without any platform at all. What follows here is for creators who do need some platform features, or who want to compare their options properly before choosing.
The alternatives worth considering
Thinkific
Thinkific's free plan lets you create one course with no transaction fees. You keep everything minus Stripe's processing. The interface is similar to Teachable, the template options are comparable, and the learning curve is minimal if you've used Teachable before.
The catch: the free plan limits you to one course. The Basic plan at $49/month unlocks unlimited courses and a custom domain. That's more expensive than Teachable's Basic, but there are no transaction fees at any tier. If you're selling 15+ courses per month, Thinkific's flat-rate model costs less than Teachable's percentage-based Basic plan.
Best for: creators who need a traditional course portal with progress tracking and a student login, but don't want per-sale fees eating into their revenue.
Podia
Podia bundles courses, digital downloads, community, and email marketing into one platform. The Mover plan at $33/month includes everything except affiliate marketing. No transaction fees on any plan.
The interface is simpler than Teachable's. Less customisation, fewer template options, but faster to set up. For creators who also sell ebooks, templates, or other digital products alongside their course, Podia avoids the need for separate tools.
Best for: creators selling a mix of digital products and courses who want one dashboard instead of three.
Gumroad (for simple courses)
If your course is a set of downloadable files (video files + PDF), Gumroad can technically host it. Upload the files, set a price, share the link. No student portal, no progress tracking. Buyers download everything at once.
The downside: Gumroad takes 10% of every sale. On a $97 course, that's $9.70. At 20 sales/month, $194/month in fees. That's more than Teachable's Basic plan. For a detailed breakdown of what Gumroad actually costs, the Gumroad alternatives comparison covers it.
Best for: creators who just want to test a course quickly and don't mind the fee.
A simple product page + file hosting
The lightest option. Your course videos live on Vimeo (with link-only access) or as downloadable files. A product page handles the checkout. After payment, the buyer gets an email with the access link or download. No student portal, no login, no progress tracking.
This works for: self-paced courses with no drip release, pre-recorded workshops, single masterclasses, and any course where the buyer downloads the content and works through it on their own. It doesn't work for cohort-based courses, live elements, or anything requiring student interaction inside the platform.
NanoCart fits here. Buyer pays through your own Stripe or PayPal, the delivery email goes out automatically with the course link. No transaction fee, no revenue share. From €2.50/month. You keep 100% of the sale minus standard payment processing. For a single course that's just video files and a workbook, this is the simplest and cheapest option available.
How to choose
| Your situation | Best fit | Why |
|---|---|---|
| One course, no student portal needed | Product page + file hosting | Lowest cost, simplest setup, no per-sale fees |
| One course, need progress tracking | Thinkific Free | Full course portal, one course, no transaction fees |
| Multiple courses, digital products too | Podia Mover | All-in-one at $33/month, no transaction fees |
| Testing a course idea quickly | Gumroad | Fast setup, but 10% fee adds up fast |
| 25+ sales/month, need full LMS | Teachable Pro | Only makes sense at this volume |
What most creators get wrong about switching
The fear is always the same: "My students are on Teachable. If I move, I lose them." This is mostly not true.
Your students don't log into Teachable to browse courses. They bought your course because of you, through a link you shared. If that link points to a different page next time, they'll follow it. The platform is invisible to them. What they care about is the content and the delivery being smooth.
The real friction in switching is migrating existing students. For new products, there's nothing to migrate. Launch the next course on a different platform (or no platform at all) and compare the results. Keep the existing course on Teachable if moving it feels risky. There's no rule that says all your products have to live in the same place.
David teaches music production from Berlin. His 6-module course lived on Teachable's Basic plan: $39/month plus 5% per sale. At 12 sales/month of his $79 course, he was paying $39 + $47.40 = $86.40/month to Teachable.
He moved the course to Vimeo (private links) with a simple product page for checkout. New monthly cost: €2.50 for the product page + $7 for Vimeo. Total: under $10/month. Same course, same audience, same delivery quality. $76/month saved.
Your action plan
Open Teachable and check: do your students use the progress tracker? The discussion area? Quizzes? Certificates? If none of those, you don't need a course platform. If some of those, pick an alternative that has the features you use and nothing more.
Subscription fee plus transaction fees (if any) plus payment processing. Compare that number against each alternative at your current sales volume. The cheapest option at 5 sales/month is often different from the cheapest at 50.
Don't migrate your existing course unless you're sure. Launch your next course, workshop, or masterclass on the alternative. Test the checkout, the delivery, and the student experience before committing fully.
Update your bio link, your email signature, and your pinned posts. Your audience follows you, not the platform URL. They'll click the new link the same way they clicked the old one.