Disclosure: We sell our own digital products on Gumroad and Payhip, two of the four platforms compared here. Some of our free calculators and two of our paid spreadsheets are linked on this page, and we earn the sale price if you buy one. We have no partnership with Teachable, Podia, Payhip or Gumroad, and none of them pays us for a link here.

A course platform charges you in up to three ways: a monthly plan, a percentage of each sale, and card processing. Which one is cheapest depends almost entirely on how much you sell. A free plan with a 5% fee wins when you’re small; a flat plan with no fee wins once sales grow.

We compared the published pricing of Teachable, Podia, Payhip and Gumroad on October 20, 2026. We left out limited-time promotions because they expire. Prices change, so check the linked pricing page before you decide.

The short version

  • Just starting, selling under about $1,000 a month: Payhip’s free plan costs the least in our examples: $0 a month plus 5% of each sale and card processing. Every plan has the same features, including drip lessons, quizzes and certificates.
  • Selling about $2,000 a month or more and want a dedicated course platform: Teachable Builder is $69 a month billed yearly ($89 monthly) with no Teachable transaction fee when you use Teachable Payments. It was the cheapest option in our $3,000-a-month example.
  • Courses plus a community, email list and website in one place: Podia Shaker is $84 a month billed yearly ($99 monthly) with no Podia transaction fee and email for up to 500 subscribers.
  • No budget, testing an idea, or selling a simple video or PDF course: Gumroad has no monthly fee and handles sales tax for you, but its 10% + $0.50 fee, plus 2.9% + $0.30 card processing on direct sales, makes it the most expensive here once you sell regularly.

Pricing at a glance

  Teachable Podia Payhip Gumroad
Cheapest plan Starter: $39/month, or $29/month billed yearly Mover: $49/month, or $42/month billed yearly Free: $0 No plan; $0 a month
Platform fee on each sale (cheapest plan) 7.5% 5% 5% 10% + $0.50 (30% for sales through its Discover marketplace)
First plan with no platform fee Builder: $89/month, or $69/month billed yearly Shaker: $99/month, or $84/month billed yearly Pro: $99/month (Plus at $29/month cuts it to 2%) None (5% + $0.50 on direct sales after $20,000 in a calendar month)
Card processing (US cards) 2.9% + 30¢ via Teachable Payments (international 3.9% + 30¢) Stripe or PayPal, 2.9% + 30¢ standard Stripe or PayPal at their standard rates 2.9% + $0.30 on direct sales; included in the 30% Discover fee
Product limit (cheapest plan) 5 products 50 products Unlimited Unlimited
Video hosting Up to 1 TB on every plan 500 videos on Mover $5/month for 16 hours, or embed YouTube/Vimeo free Upload or embed videos in the course content
Sales tax / VAT US sales tax, global VAT and GST handling Sales tax handling (230 countries) Collects and remits EU/UK VAT and US/Canadian sales tax Merchant of record: collects and remits sales tax worldwide
Free trial 7-day free trial and 30-day money-back guarantee (check the page for current offers) 14 days, no card needed Free plan Free to start

What a month really costs: a worked example

Assumptions: you sell a $100 course to US buyers paying by card. Card processing is 2.9% + $0.30, so $3.20 per sale on every platform. Payhip includes its $5-a-month video hosting (embed your videos from YouTube or Vimeo instead and take $5 off). Teachable and Podia include video. Each plan is at its cheapest billing option unless noted.

5 sales a month ($500):

Platform and plan Plan cost Platform fee Card processing Total a month Share of sales
Payhip Free $5.00 (video) 5% × $500 = $25.00 5 × $3.20 = $16.00 $46.00 9.2%
Payhip Plus $29 + $5 = $34.00 2% × $500 = $10.00 $16.00 $60.00 12.0%
Gumroad, direct sales $0 10% × $500 + 5 × $0.50 = $52.50 $16.00 $68.50 13.7%
Teachable Starter, yearly $29.00 7.5% × $500 = $37.50 $16.00 $82.50 16.5%
Podia Mover, yearly $42.00 5% × $500 = $25.00 $16.00 $83.00 16.6%
Teachable Builder, yearly $69.00 $0 $16.00 $85.00 17.0%
Podia Shaker, yearly $84.00 $0 $16.00 $100.00 20.0%

30 sales a month ($3,000):

Platform and plan Plan cost Platform fee Card processing Total a month Share of sales
Teachable Builder, yearly $69.00 $0 30 × $3.20 = $96.00 $165.00 5.5%
Podia Shaker, yearly $84.00 $0 $96.00 $180.00 6.0%
Teachable Builder, monthly $89.00 $0 $96.00 $185.00 6.2%
Payhip Plus $34.00 2% × $3,000 = $60.00 $96.00 $190.00 6.3%
Payhip Pro $99 + $5 = $104.00 $0 $96.00 $200.00 6.7%
Payhip Free $5.00 5% × $3,000 = $150.00 $96.00 $251.00 8.4%
Podia Mover, yearly $42.00 5% × $3,000 = $150.00 $96.00 $288.00 9.6%
Teachable Starter, yearly $29.00 7.5% × $3,000 = $225.00 $96.00 $350.00 11.7%
Gumroad, direct sales $0 10% × $3,000 + 30 × $0.50 = $315.00 $96.00 $411.00 13.7%

Two things stand out. At $500 a month, a free plan with a percentage fee beats every paid plan, and Teachable’s and Podia’s entry plans cost almost twice as much as Payhip Free. At $3,000 a month the order flips: the flat plans with no platform fee (Teachable Builder, Podia Shaker) come out cheapest, and Gumroad costs about $246 a month more than Teachable Builder, close to $3,000 over a year.

Where the plans cross over (same $100 course, ignoring card processing, which is the same everywhere, and Payhip’s optional $5 video hosting):

  • Payhip Plus beats Payhip Free above about $967 a month (3% of sales covers the $29).
  • Teachable Builder (yearly) beats Payhip Free above $1,380 a month, and beats Payhip Plus above $2,000 a month.
  • Payhip Pro beats Payhip Plus above $3,500 a month.
  • Gumroad’s per-sale $0.50 hurts more on cheap courses: at $20 a course, Gumroad’s fee is 12.5% of each sale before processing.

Want to check your own numbers? Our Gumroad fee calculator and PayPal and Stripe fee calculator work out the per-sale cuts, and our Gumroad alternatives comparison covers downloads rather than courses.

Who each one is best for

Teachable is best for course creators who already sell steadily (roughly $2,000 a month or more) and want a dedicated course school: iOS and Android student apps, drip content, quizzes, upsells and cart recovery, and tax handling built in. Builder adds a built-in affiliate program for your own students and partners.

Podia is best for creators who want courses, a community, an email list, a website and digital downloads under one login. Every plan includes community spaces, coaching, events, a website and blog with a custom domain, and email up to the plan’s subscriber limit.

Payhip is best for new course sellers and anyone selling courses next to ebooks, templates or memberships. All plans have the same features: a branded course player, seven lesson types (video, text, quiz, download, survey, assignment, embed), drip lessons, free preview lessons, preorders, payment plans and certificates. You only upgrade to lower the transaction fee.

Gumroad is best for testing a course idea with no monthly bill, for simple video-and-PDF courses, and for sellers who want Gumroad to act as merchant of record and deal with sales tax worldwide. Its Discover marketplace can bring new buyers, at a 30% fee on those sales.

The honest downsides

Teachable

  • Starter’s 7.5% fee is the highest percentage here, and Starter allows only 5 products.
  • The 0% fee on Builder and up applies when you use Teachable Payments.
  • Course certificates and removing Teachable branding are listed on Growth ($139 a month billed yearly) in the plan summaries.
  • PayPal sales cost more to process (3.49% + 49¢ in the US).

Podia

  • Mover charges 5% and includes email for only 100 subscribers.
  • Affiliate marketing, upsells and PayPal checkout start on Shaker.
  • Refunds: Podia refunds only if you ask within 72 hours of your most recent payment, and no partial refunds on yearly plans.

Payhip (where we also sell some of our products)

  • Hosting videos on Payhip costs $5 a month for 16 hours; longer libraries need more, or you embed from YouTube or Vimeo.
  • We didn’t find a mobile student app on its pricing or course pages.
  • Pro ($99 a month) only pays off above $3,500 a month in sales.

Gumroad (where our own products are sold)

  • 10% + $0.50 per direct sale, plus card processing, is the most expensive option once you sell regularly; Discover marketplace sales cost 30%.
  • Its course content is organized as pages of text, files and videos. We didn’t find quizzes or certificates in its help center, and timed lessons go out by scheduled email (Workflows) rather than a lesson-by-lesson drip.

How to choose in two minutes

  1. Estimate your monthly course sales honestly. If you haven’t sold yet, plan for the small case.
  2. Under about $1,000 a month: Payhip Free (or Gumroad if you want marketplace exposure or worldwide sales-tax handling as merchant of record).
  3. Between about $1,000 and $2,000 a month: Payhip Plus.
  4. Above about $2,000 a month: Teachable Builder or Podia Shaker on yearly billing, depending on whether you want a dedicated course school (Teachable) or courses plus community and email in one place (Podia).
  5. Before you commit, read the current pricing page. The numbers above were correct on October 20, 2026.

Sources

All checked 2026-10-20 on each company’s official page.

  • Teachable pricing (Starter $39 monthly / $29 yearly, 7.5% transaction fee, 5 products; Builder $89 / $69, 0% with Teachable Payments, 10 products, affiliate program; Growth $189 / $139, 50 products, certificates, branding removal; video storage up to 1 TB; processing fees US cards 2.9% + 30¢, international 3.9% + 30¢, US PayPal 3.49% + 49¢, international PayPal 4.99% + 49¢, chargeback $15; 7-day trial, 30-day guarantee; “3 months for the price of 1” offer excluded): https://www.teachable.com/pricing (checked 2026-10-20)
  • Podia pricing (Mover $49 monthly / $42 yearly, 5% fee, 100 email subscribers, 50 products, 500 videos; Shaker $99 / $84, no fees, 500 subscribers, 150 products, affiliate marketing, upsells, PayPal; Earthquaker $179 / $150, 1,000 subscribers, unlimited; Stripe/PayPal 2.9% + 30¢; 14-day trial, no card; refund within 72 hours): https://www.podia.com/pricing (checked 2026-10-20)
  • Payhip pricing (Free $0 + 5%, Plus $29 + 2%, Pro $99 + 0%; same features on all plans; PayPal/Stripe fees extra; EU/UK VAT and US/Canadian sales tax handling; payouts right after each sale): https://payhip.com/pricing (checked 2026-10-20)
  • Payhip courses (course player, lesson types, drip, previews, preorders, payment plans, certificates; video hosting $5 a month or free embeds): https://payhip.com/features/sell-courses , https://help.payhip.com/article/178-add-course-products , https://help.payhip.com/article/336-video-subscription (checked 2026-10-20)
  • Gumroad pricing (10% + $0.50 direct, 30% Discover, merchant of record, no monthly fee): https://gumroad.com/pricing (checked 2026-10-20)
  • Gumroad help, “Gumroad’s fees” (fee excludes card processing 2.9% + $0.30 and PayPal fees; Discover 30% includes processing; 5% + $0.50 after $20,000 paid sales in a calendar month): https://gumroad.com/help/article/66-gumroads-fees (checked 2026-10-20)
  • Gumroad help, “Adding a product” (Course or tutorial product type; content pages with files, text and videos): https://gumroad.com/help/article/149-adding-a-product (checked 2026-10-20)

Worked examples use US card rates. International cards cost more on every platform.

Free tools for sellers

Spreadsheets from us

  • Seller Fee Formulas for Google Sheets ($9, on Payhip): custom functions such as STRIPEFEE, PAYPALFEE and GUMROADFEE, plus BREAKEVENPRICE, which finds the price you need for a target profit under any percentage-plus-fixed fee (for example Teachable Starter’s 7.5% or Payhip’s 5%). (Our product.)
  • Gumroad Seller Finance Tracker (pay what you want from $9): imports your Gumroad sales CSV and splits gross sales, Gumroad fees, card processing and refunds into a profit and loss sheet with a tax set-aside. (Our product.)

Disclosure: Seller Fee Formulas for Google Sheets and the Gumroad Seller Finance Tracker are our own paid products, and we earn the sale price if you buy one.