Comparison · school LMS · USD · United States rates where noted
Teachable vs Thinkific (2026) — which school LMS
Teachable vs Thinkific is the two-host school fork when Kajabi’s $179 business OS is already off the table. One is a school with a 7.5% Starter tax. The other is a course LMS with unlimited courses and a Stripe tax if you keep your own processor.
Who this page is for
Experts with a method who already ruled out (or do not want) Kajabi’s all-in-one floor, and are staring at Teachable and Thinkific as the school / LMS choice. Not a methodology shop. Not a three-way — that is Kajabi vs Teachable vs Thinkific.
Vendor pages if you only need one host: Teachable pricing, Thinkific pricing. Fee dollars: Teachable transaction fees, Thinkific third-party gateway fees.
The short version
Teachable
The school. Lowest published entry price of the pair, with a 7.5% platform cut on Starter that makes “cheap” expensive once you sell.
Actually for
A course catalog — several products, a student list, Teachable as the school. Builder ($89 / $69) is the plan that drops the platform cut to 0% on teachable:pay or Monthly Payment Gateway.
Not for
A single paid offer you intend to keep on Starter. Unlimited published courses (Growth stops at 50). A dated live cohort as the product — public page is course/school; live is embeds.
Thinkific
The course LMS. Unlimited courses on every named plan. Public Basic $54/mo after the August 13, 2026 ~10% increase. Live cohorts sit on Start, not Basic.
Actually for
A recorded library, a membership on Start+, or a live cohort (Start $109 / $82). Course-first, not funnel-first. You already have email and checkout elsewhere, or you will use Thinkific Payments.
Not for
Keeping Stripe without pricing 5% / 2% / 1% on Basic / Start / Grow (US, Canada, UK, EU). Kajabi-style funnels as the marketing system.
Neither, if
You need the business OS: landing pages, email, funnels, checkout, and delivery in one stack. That floor is public Kajabi Basic $179/mo.
Go elsewhere
Kajabi pricing if the whole business should sit in one tab. Kajabi vs Skool if the offer is a feed, not a school.
Do not force it
Do not pick Teachable Starter because $39 looks cheap and then eat 7.5% on every sale. Do not pick Thinkific Basic for a live cohort — that work starts on Start.
School vs LMS
Teachable (school). Official who-uses copy: creators, experts, entrepreneurs scaling expertise into an education business. Products: courses, coaching, digital downloads, memberships. Published-product caps 5 / 10 / 50. Active students 100 / 1,000 / 5,000 until $10k/year in sales on Teachable. Self-paced by default; live via YouTube / Vimeo / Zoom embeds.
Thinkific (LMS). Official FAQ: a learning management platform to create and sell courses, communities, memberships, downloads, coaching, webinars. Unlimited courses on Basic / Start / Grow. 10,000 current-student cap on named plans. Live cohorts and coaching advertised on the Start card (unlimited Zoom sessions, bookable calendars, attendance). Paid memberships sit on Start+, not Basic.
If the work is a catalog with Teachable handling tax remittance and the student app, Teachable Builder is the honest school floor. If the work is unlimited courses, a membership, or a dated group, Thinkific’s plan ladder matches that shape better than Teachable’s product caps.
Cited numbers, September 3, 2026
USD. Monthly is month-to-month. Annual is the advertised per-month rate when you pay yearly. Platform fee is the vendor’s cut, not card processing.
| Teachable | Thinkific | |
|---|---|---|
| Lowest public plan (monthly) | Starter $39/mo | Basic $54/mo |
| Same plan, billed annually | $29/mo (22% off annual) | $40/mo (save $173; ~25% annual) |
| Mid plan (monthly / annual) | Builder $89 / $69 | Start $109 / $82 |
| Upper named plan (monthly / annual) | Growth $189 / $139 | Grow $219 / $164 |
| Custom / enterprise | Custom — contact sales | Plus — talk to sales. Expand $499/mo cited in the Aug 13 update; not on current public plan cards. |
| Platform transaction fee (native) | Starter 7.5% of total transaction value (product price including taxes). Builder, Growth, Custom: 0% on teachable:pay or Monthly Payment Gateway. US card 2.9%+$0.30 on top. | No third-party gateway fee on Thinkific Payments. Public FAQ: native processing “in line with… Stripe and Paypal at 2.9%.” |
| Fee if you use your own Stripe / other gateway | Public FAQ covers 0% / 7.5% on teachable:pay or Monthly Payment Gateway. Custom-gateway surcharge not on teachable.com/pricing this fetch — omitted. | 5% Basic / 2% Start / 1% Grow / 0.5% Expand. Plus: no fee at this time. First $1M calendar-year sales, then waived. US, Canada, UK, EU. |
| Products / courses | 5 / 10 / 50 published products. Memberships and bundles do not count. Unpublished drafts do not count. | Unlimited courses on Basic, Start, Grow |
| People cap | 100 / 1,000 / 5,000 active students. Caps come off at $10k USD/year in sales on Teachable. | 10,000 current students on Basic, Start, Grow. Plus: custom. |
| Communities | Listed on Builder / Growth / Custom this fetch. Starter’s current grid does not list it — treat Starter community as unverified. | Basic 1 community / 5 spaces. Start 1 / 10. Grow 3 / 20. |
| Live / cohort framing | Self-paced default. Live via third-party embeds. Cohort-style via drip — not a native live-cohort product card. | Live cohorts and coaching on Start: unlimited Zoom sessions, calendars, attendance. Dash on Basic in the comparison grid. |
| Trial | 7-day free trial, 30-day money-back. No free plan. | 30-day free trial. No free plan — explore for a month, then pay. |
| 2026 price event | Plans renamed June 2025 (Starter / Builder / Growth; public page shows Custom, not Advanced). | ~10% increase on Basic, Start, Grow effective August 13, 2026. First subscription increase since 2022. |
Sources: teachable.com/pricing, Teachable Pay, thinkific.com/pricing, Thinkific Aug 13, 2026 update, Thinkific cost / third-party fees. Full list at the bottom.
What the fees do to the same sale
US, listed price, no tax added in the arithmetic. Card processing sits on both. The extra question is each vendor’s own cut.
- $97. Teachable Starter: 7.5% = $7.28 platform, plus 2.9%+$0.30 card. Teachable Builder: 0% platform on teachable:pay, plus card. Thinkific Payments: no third-party gateway fee; public native headline 2.9%. Thinkific Basic + Stripe: +5% = $4.85 plus Stripe’s own fee.
- $497. Teachable Starter: $37.28 platform. Two such sales ($74.55) already beat the $50/mo Starter→Builder gap. Thinkific Basic + Stripe: +$24.85 plus Stripe.
- $2,000. Teachable Starter: $150.00 platform — three months of the monthly Builder gap before the card network is paid. Thinkific Basic + Stripe: +$100.00 plus Stripe. Thinkific Start’s 2% is $40.00; Grow’s 1% is $20.00.
Full dollar tables: Teachable transaction fees, Thinkific third-party gateway fees. We are not publishing a break-even month here — refunds, tax-inclusive Teachable bases, and whether you stay on native payments change the dollar.
When Teachable vs when Thinkific
Pick Teachable when
The offer is a school catalog you will actually sell, and you will sit on Builder or above so the 7.5% is gone on teachable:pay. Memberships and bundles do not eat the product cap. Tax calculate/collect/remit across 45+ countries is part of the school pitch. You do not need unlimited published courses tonight (Growth’s 50 is enough, or Custom).
Pick Thinkific when
You need unlimited courses on a named public card, a membership or live cohort (Start), or a cheaper recorded-library floor than Kajabi without Teachable’s Starter tax. You will use Thinkific Payments, or you have priced the Stripe 5/2/1% tax. The program starts on a date — Start’s live-cohort card matches that work better than Teachable’s embed path.
Skip both for Kajabi when
Email, funnels, landing pages, and checkout are the product, not extras. Public Basic $179/mo buys that OS. Three-host table: Kajabi vs Teachable vs Thinkific.
Who should not pick which
Skip Teachable if
You will sit on Starter while the offer sells. The 7.5% is the product. Also skip if you need unlimited published courses on a named card, or a native live-cohort framing — Thinkific Start advertises that product; Teachable’s public pricing page does not.
Skip Thinkific if
You need Kajabi-style funnels and native email as the marketing system. Also skip Basic if the program is a live cohort. Skip keeping Stripe unless you have priced 5/2/1%. Skip if Teachable Builder’s school + tax remittance is the whole job and you do not need unlimited courses.
Visit the hosts
Thinkific affiliate slot — not live
Visit Teachable is an affiliate link. Official Teachable pricing remains the citation. Thinkific buttons are official product URLs only. Kajabi’s trial box and visit button use affiliate links. Official Kajabi pricing remains the source for Kajabi numbers.
Omitted on purpose
- Teachable Custom Payment Gateway extra percentage. Comparison blogs quote figures. It was not on teachable.com/pricing this fetch. Omitted.
- Teachable Advanced as a current public card. June 2025 help lists Advanced; live pricing shows Starter / Builder / Growth / Custom.
- Exact Thinkific Payments country schedule beyond the public 2.9% FAQ line.
- Thinkific public Expand plan card. August 2026 increase article prices Expand at $499/mo unchanged; current cards are Basic / Start / Grow / Plus.
- Separate Kajabi vs Teachable or Kajabi vs Thinkific pages. The three-way already covers those forks; linking is enough.
- Keyword volumes and anything that documents your method for you.
Sources
- Teachable pricing — Starter $39/$29, Builder $89/$69, Growth $189/$139, Custom contact sales; 7.5% vs 0%*; 5/10/50 products; 100/1,000/5,000 active students; 22% annual; 7-day trial; 30-day money-back. Fetched September 3, 2026.
- Teachable Pay (updated June 22, 2026) — Starter 7.5% of total transaction value (product price including taxes); Builder/Growth/Advanced/Business 0% on Teachable Payments; US card 2.9%+$0.30.
- Thinkific pricing — Basic $54/$40, Start $109/$82, Grow $219/$164, unlimited courses, 10,000 current students, live cohorts on Start, 30-day trial, 2.9% native FAQ. Fetched September 3, 2026 (curl 200; WebFetch Cloudflare-challenged).
- Thinkific’s 2026 plan pricing update — ~10% increase August 13, 2026; Expand unchanged at $499/mo.
- How much does Thinkific cost? and Third-party payment gateway fee FAQ — 5%/2%/1%/0.5%; $1M/year cap.
- Kajabi pricing — public Basic $179/$143. Cited as the OS alternative, not re-priced as a third column. Fetched September 3, 2026.