Teachable Review
Reviewed by Carlos Gil · Founder & Editor, The Best Network
Updated 7 min readEditorially reviewed
Quick facts
- Starting price
- $39/mo ($29/mo billed annually, Starter)
- Free plan
- No
- Best for
- First-time course creators and coaches launching their first paid program
- Platforms
- Web, iOS, Android (student app)
BestStacked Score
Weighted average of 5 categories. Methodology below.
The Verdict
Teachable in 2026 is still the easiest place to launch your first course — the onboarding is genuinely fast (a polished landing page and first lesson live within an hour), the student experience is clean, and a free trial plus a 30-day money-back guarantee let you ship before you commit (the plan cards say the trial is 7 days; a current Teachable offer says 30). The honest trade-off is that as you scale past 200 students or want to bundle email, automations, and a full creator business, Kajabi becomes the better pick. For first-time creators, coaches, and anyone validating a course idea, Teachable is the right starting point. For seven-figure creator businesses, you'll outgrow it.
Best for
First-time course creators, coaches, and consultants who want to validate a course idea fast without building a tech stack.
Skip if
You already have a sophisticated creator business or you want one platform to handle email, courses, communities, and websites — go to Kajabi instead.
The Background
What Is Teachable?
Teachable is a hosted course platform that lets creators build, sell, and deliver online courses, coaching programs, and digital downloads without writing code. Founded in 2014 in New York and acquired by Hotmart in 2020, Teachable says more than 150,000 creators, experts and businesses use it. The product covers the full course-business stack: a drag-and-drop course builder with video hosting, quizzes, and certificates; a customizable sales page builder with built-in checkout; integrated payments via Stripe and PayPal; basic email marketing for student communications; affiliate program tools; live coaching session scheduling; and a clean iOS/Android student app. Teachable's positioning has always been 'simplest path to launching a course,' and that is still true in 2026 — the onboarding is the fastest in the category and the default templates produce a polished result without any design work. The trade-off is depth: for creators running a multi-product creator business with funnels, communities, podcasts, and complex automations, Kajabi remains the more complete platform.
The Product
Teachable Features: What You Actually Get
Drag-and-drop course builder
Build a course by dragging video, text, quizzes, downloads, and assignments into a lesson sequence. The builder handles encoding, hosting, and global delivery automatically — you upload a 4K master and Teachable serves it adaptively to students on any device. Quizzes and assignments support auto-grading or manual review.
Build a 12-lesson course in a weekend with video, downloadable templates, and end-of-module quizzes.
Sales pages and checkout
Drag-and-drop landing pages with built-in checkout via Stripe and PayPal. The 2026 update added a real component library (testimonials, FAQ, countdown timers, comparison tables) so you can build conversion-optimized sales pages without leaving the platform. Checkout supports one-time, payment plans, subscriptions, and order bumps.
Spin up a sales page with countdown timer for a 72-hour launch and accept payments without a separate funnel tool.
Coaching and live sessions
Schedule 1:1 or group coaching sessions, accept booking and payment in one flow, and conduct sessions inside Teachable with built-in video. The 2026 release added group cohort scheduling, which is the feature that makes Teachable viable for coaching businesses that previously had to bolt on Calendly + Zoom + Stripe.
Sell a 4-week group coaching cohort with weekly Zoom sessions, all booked and paid through Teachable.
Affiliate program
Built-in affiliate marketing tools let you recruit affiliates, set custom commission rates per affiliate, generate tracking links, and pay out automatically via Stripe or PayPal. It is meaningfully more polished than rolling your own with FirstPromoter or Rewardful for creator-scale programs.
Run a 30% affiliate program for your $497 course and onboard 12 partners without touching a separate tool.
Student communities (maintenance mode)
Teachable Community is in maintenance mode. Per Teachable's help center (updated August 2026), it is no longer available to new schools, existing communities keep working but get no new features or active bug fixes, and Teachable recommends course comments or a third-party tool like Discord or Slack instead.
Use lesson comments for in-context discussion and link a Discord or Slack server from your school for broader peer support.
Bulk imports and migrations
Bulk student imports are available on Growth and above, and the Custom plan adds migration assistance and white-glove onboarding. On Starter and Builder, plan to move courses and students over yourself.
Import 800 existing students on Growth so they keep access while you rebuild your 4 courses in Teachable.
Mobile app for students
Native iOS and Android student apps are included on every plan, so students can work through lessons on their phones at no extra cost to you.
Students pick up lessons on their phones between sessions without needing a desktop.
Feature recap
- Drag-and-drop course and sales page builder
- Built-in payments with Stripe and PayPal
- 1:1 and group coaching scheduling
- Native affiliate program (Builder and up)
- Student communities (maintenance mode, closed to new schools)
- Migration assistance on the Custom plan
- iOS and Android student apps on every plan
- Quizzes, certificates, and assignments
The Numbers
Teachable Pricing: Every Plan Explained
Teachable's current plans (Starter, Builder and Growth, plus a Custom tier) replaced Basic, Pro and Pro+ in June 2025. There is no free plan. Teachable's pricing page disagrees with itself on the trial: the Starter, Builder and Growth plan cards and the pricing FAQ say "7-day free trial", while a special-offer banner on the same page says "We've extended our free trial from 7 to 30 days" (both on teachable.com/pricing, checked October 11, 2026). Confirm the trial length when you sign up; the 30-day money-back guarantee applies either way. Only Starter charges a transaction fee (7.5%); Builder and up are 0% when you use Teachable Payments, and standard processing fees apply on every plan.
| Plan | Monthly | Annual | Included Features | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $39 | $29/mo ($348/yr) | 5 products, 1 admin, 7.5% transaction fee, Create with AI, student apps, coupons and upsells; no built-in email marketing or affiliate program | First-time creators validating one product |
| BuilderBest value | $89 | $69/mo ($828/yr) | 10 products, 1 admin, 0% transaction fee, built-in email marketing, affiliate program, custom domain, real-time support | Creators past validation with a few products |
| Growth | $189 | $139/mo ($1,668/yr) | 50 products, 5 admins, 0% transaction fee, certificates, remove Teachable branding, bulk student imports, Zapier, webhooks and API | Established creators and small teams running a course business |
| Custom | Contact sales | Contact sales | Everything in Growth + flexible product and admin seats, dedicated success manager, priority SLA-based support, migration assistance | High-volume education businesses |
Builder at $89/month ($69/month annual) is the right plan for any creator past validation. Dropping Starter's 7.5% transaction fee pays for the upgrade fast: on $1,000/month in sales, 7.5% is $75, more than the $50/month step from Starter to Builder on monthly billing ($40 on annual). Builder also adds built-in email marketing, the affiliate program, a custom domain and real-time support. Starter at $39/month ($29 annual) is fine for first-time creators testing a single product, but the fee bites once revenue scales and there is no built-in email. Growth at $189/month ($139 annual) is for creators who need certificates, branding removal, more than 10 products, more than one admin, or Zapier and API access. Skip Custom unless you run a high-volume education business.
The Tradeoffs
Teachable Pros and Cons
What we love
- Fastest onboarding in the course platform category
- Free trial (7 days per the plan cards, 30 per Teachable's current offer) and a 30-day money-back guarantee
- 0% transaction fee from Builder up is genuinely competitive
- Sales page builder is now polished enough to skip ClickFunnels
- Coaching scheduling is built in (no Calendly needed)
- Affiliate program is more polished than DIY alternatives
- Create with AI included on every plan
- iOS and Android student apps on every plan
What could be better
- Email marketing is basic (and missing on Starter) — most creators bolt on Kit
- Community is in maintenance mode and closed to new schools
- 7.5% transaction fee on Starter makes scaling there expensive
- Does less than Kajabi for multi-product creator businesses
- Sales page templates feel slightly dated vs. Kajabi 2026 refresh
- No built-in podcast hosting (Kajabi has it)
The Audience
Who Should Use Teachable?
Best for: first-time creators launching their first course
If you've never sold a course and you want the fastest path from 'I should teach this' to 'first $1K in revenue,' Teachable is the right pick. The free trial to build (7 days on the plan cards, 30 days in Teachable's current offer), Starter at $39/month ($29 annual) to validate, Builder at $89/month ($69 annual) once sales come in. Done.
Best for: coaches running 1:1 or cohort programs
The built-in coaching scheduling, group cohorts, and affiliate program (Builder and up) make Teachable a complete coaching business platform — no need to bolt on Calendly, Zoom, or a separate affiliate tool.
Skip if: you want one platform for your whole creator business
If you want courses, email, automations, communities, podcasts, and a website all under one login, Kajabi is the better fit. Teachable is course-first and good at it; Kajabi is creator-business-first and broader.
The Methodology
How We Reviewed Teachable
Our editorial evaluation considers product information, official documentation, pricing, features and professional experience. It is not a claim of documented hands-on testing.
Our review methodology →What changed
- : Trial consistency: re-checked teachable.com/pricing on October 13, 2026 (plan cards and FAQ still say '7-day free trial'; the special-offer banner still says the trial was extended from 7 to 30 days). Two remaining 7-day-only mentions, in the first-time creator use case and the launch-week plan, now state both lengths. Score unchanged.
- : Free trial: Teachable's pricing page now shows two lengths. A special-offer banner says the free trial was extended from 7 to 30 days; the Starter, Builder and Growth plan cards and the pricing FAQ still say 7 days. The review now states both, citing teachable.com/pricing as checked on October 11, 2026. Prices, plans and the score are unchanged.
The Field
Teachable vs The Competition
The course platform category has consolidated into three serious players. Here is how Teachable stacks up against the alternatives most readers will consider.
| Tool | Starting Price | Free plan | Best Feature | BS Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teachable | $39/mo ($29/mo billed annually, Starter) | No | Drag-and-drop course builder | 8.5/10 |
| Kajabi | $143/mo annual ($179 monthly) | No | Best all-in-one creator business platform | 8.9/10 |
| Thinkific | Basic $40/mo billed annually ($54 monthly) | No | Unlimited courses on every plan | 8.4/10 |
| Podia | Mover $42/mo billed yearly ($49 monthly) | No | Best for creators selling multiple digital products | 8.1/10 |
Kajabi: Kajabi is the more complete platform for creators running a multi-product business — courses, email, automations, communities, podcasts, and a website all under one login. Teachable is simpler and cheaper to start.Read our Kajabi review →
Thinkific: Thinkific allows unlimited courses, communities and live cohorts, but Start, the plan most course sellers need, costs $82/mo billed annually ($109 monthly). It has no free plan, and Stripe sales carry an extra 5% fee on Basic unless you use Thinkific Payments.Read our Thinkific review →
Podia: Podia bundles courses, downloads, coaching, community and email in one account. Mover costs more than Teachable's Starter but takes a 5% fee instead of 7.5%, and Shaker ($84/mo billed yearly) drops the fee. It suits creators selling a mix of digital products.Read our Podia review →
Use cases
Example setups by buyer type
A first-time creator validating a course idea
Start Teachable's free trial (7 days on the plan cards, 30 days in its current offer) on a Sunday, build a 4-lesson mini-course Monday and Tuesday, ship a sales page Wednesday, and email your list Thursday on Starter ($39/month, or $29 annual). Within the first month you know whether anyone will pay $97 for the topic, and the 30-day money-back guarantee covers the plan fee if the idea flops. If 10 people buy, move to Builder to drop the 7.5% fee and build the full version.
A coach launching a $2,000 group program
Use Teachable Builder to host pre-recorded video lessons, schedule weekly cohort calls, sell directly via the built-in checkout, run a 30% affiliate program, and deliver everything through the iOS and Android student apps. Replace several separate tools (Calendly, FirstPromoter, ClickFunnels) with one $89/month ($69 annual) subscription.
A consultant migrating from Thinkific
Sign up for Teachable Growth, bulk-import your 800 existing students, and rebuild your 4 courses. If you're big enough for the Custom plan, Teachable's migration assistance can handle the move. Build a new launch page in Teachable's sales page builder while the courses come over.
The Ecosystem
Teachable Integrations
Teachable's integration story is solid for the basics, but it scales by plan: third-party integrations are capped at 1 on Starter, 3 on Builder, 5 on Growth and unlimited on Custom, and Zapier, webhooks and the public API start on Growth.
- →Stripe and PayPal (native checkout)
- →Kit (formerly ConvertKit)
- →Mailchimp
- →ActiveCampaign
- →Zapier (Growth and up)
- →Google Analytics 4
- →Meta Pixel
- →Slack
- →Calendly (via Zapier)
- →Webhooks and public API (Growth and up)
- →WordPress (embed via plugin)
There is still no native Notion or Airtable integration, which is mildly frustrating for creators using those for content planning. Both work via Zapier on Growth and up.
Common Questions
Teachable FAQ
The Final Word
Should You Use Teachable?
Teachable in 2026 remains the right starting point for first-time course creators and coaches. The free trial (7 days on the plan cards, 30 days in Teachable's current offer) lets you build before you pay, Starter at $39/month ($29 annual) launches your first product, and Builder at $89/month ($69 annual) is the sweet spot for serious creators with the 0% transaction fee paying for itself fast. We score it 8.5/10 — held back from a higher score by basic email marketing and a community feature Teachable has stopped developing. Pair it with Kit for email and you have a complete course business stack. Outgrow it and Kajabi will be waiting.
Yes, if
you're launching your first course or running a coaching business and want the fastest path from idea to first revenue
No, if
you want one platform for courses, email, automations, communities, podcasts, and a website — Kajabi handles all of that natively
About the reviewer
Carlos Gil
Founder & Editor, The Best Network
Carlos Gil is the Founder & Editor of The Best Network, bestselling author of The End of Marketing, and a LinkedIn Top Voice. His digital marketing career began in 2008 and spans corporate roles at LinkedIn and BMC Software, consulting for global brands, creator partnerships, and building his own businesses.
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