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THE PRICELY BUYING GUIDE
Best platforms to sell online courses on your own (2026)
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Selling a course on your own comes down to where your students log in. Most people start on a course platform, which gives you a site, checkout and a lesson player. A smaller group wants students inside a branded phone app instead. Both options are compared below.
None of these platforms has a permanent free plan, and the sticker price is only part of the cost. Two plans in this guide take a cut of every sale (Teachable Starter 7.5%, Podia Mover 5%), and several cap products or contacts. Refund windows also differ a lot, from 72 hours to 30 days. Plans and terms were read from each platform's own pricing and terms pages on 3 Nov 2026.
Quick picks
- Cheapest start: Teachable Starter, $29/mo billed yearly, but with a 7.5% fee on each sale.
- No sales fees on a small budget: Podia Shaker, $84/mo billed yearly, after a 14-day trial with no card.
- Longest trial: Thinkific, 30 days.
- Safest to try: Kajabi and Teachable, both with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
- Your own app in the stores: Passion.io Expand, $599/mo billed yearly.
How these platforms were compared
This guide is built from what each company publishes. For every platform it checks:
- The cheapest plan, monthly and yearly.
- Transaction fees the platform adds on top of card processing.
- Limits on products, contacts or communities.
- The trial and the refund window.
Compare at a glance
| Platform | Trial | Cheapest plan | Platform fee | Refunds | Trustpilot |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teachable | 7 days | $39/mo ($29 yearly) | 7.5% on Starter | 30 days | 3.3 (1,110) |
| Podia | 14 days, no card | $42/mo, yearly | 5% on Mover | 72 hours | 4.1 (153) |
| Thinkific | 30 days | $109/mo ($82 yearly) | Not stated | Not stated | 1.8 (868) |
| Kajabi | Free trial | $179/mo ($143 yearly) | Card fees only | 30 days | 3.4 (2,347) |
| Passion.io | None | $119/mo, yearly | 3.9% PassionPayment | 30 days if stated in plan | 4.3 (1,816) |
Course platforms
A hosted school on the web: course pages, payments and lessons in one place.
Teachable
Teachable sells courses, coaching, memberships and digital downloads, with student apps for iOS and Android, global payments and taxes, upsells and cart recovery. Starter is $39/mo ($29/mo billed yearly) for 5 products, but takes a 7.5% transaction fee. Builder at $89/mo ($69/mo yearly) drops the fee to 0% with Teachable Payments and allows 10 products.
The trial is 7 days, and Teachable refunds in full within 30 days of first signing up or upgrading.
On Trustpilot, Teachable scores 3.3 from 1,110 reviews. Reviews are mixed: many find it easy to use with responsive support, others report slow or unhelpful replies.
Pick it if you are launching one or two courses and want the lowest monthly cost. Move to Builder once fees on Starter cost more than the price difference.
Podia
from $42/mo billed yearly
Trial: 14-day trial, no card
Podia combines courses, downloads, coaching, a community, events and a website builder. Plans are shown as yearly prices. Mover is $42/mo with a 5% fee and up to 100 email subscribers; Shaker is $84/mo with no Podia fees, 500 subscribers and affiliate marketing. The 14-day trial needs no card.
Refunds must be requested within 72 hours of the most recent payment, and there are no partial refunds on yearly plans.
On Trustpilot, Podia scores 4.1 from 153 reviews. Reviewers call it intuitive and stable and praise how quickly support responds.
Pick it if you sell several kinds of products to a small list and want email built in.
Thinkific
Thinkific builds, markets and sells courses and communities, with cohorts, coaching, quizzes, certificates and memberships. Start costs $109/mo ($82/mo billed yearly) with unlimited courses and a custom domain. Removing Thinkific branding needs Grow at $219/mo. The 30-day trial is the longest here, and you can cancel during it.
On Trustpilot, Thinkific scores 1.8 from 868 reviews. Recent reviewers complain about customer service, and one says they could not retrieve their own course materials after they stopped paying.
Pick it if you want unlimited courses and enough trial time to build your first one before paying.
Kajabi
Kajabi puts courses, communities, newsletters, coaching and downloads in one platform. Basic is $179/mo ($143/mo billed yearly) for 5 products, 2,500 contacts, 1 website and 1 community. It has a 30-day money-back guarantee on all plans and charges only standard card fees with Kajabi Payments.
On Trustpilot, Kajabi scores 3.4 from 2,347 reviews. Reviewers like having courses and products in one place and its tutorials; opinions on support and site performance are split.
Pick it if you want your email list, site and courses in one place and are ready to pay for that.
Your own course app
Students download your app from the App Store or Google Play instead of logging in to a website.
Passion.io
from $119/mo billed yearly
No free plan listed
Passion.io builds a branded mobile app for courses, memberships and communities, with an AI coach and analytics. Plans are yearly: Launch at $119/mo, Scale at $279/mo with your own branding, and Expand at $599/mo for a listing in the App Store and Google Play under your name. Its payment system takes 3.9%, plus Apple, Google and Stripe fees.
There is no free plan. First-time subscribers can get a refund in the first 30 days where the plan says so; renewals are non-refundable.
On Trustpilot, Passion.io scores 4.3 from 1,816 reviews. Reviewers say the step-by-step app builder is easy for beginners and praise the coaches and support.
Pick it if your students learn on their phones and an app under your name is part of the product.
What to check before you commit
- Platform fees. Teachable Starter takes 7.5% and Podia Mover 5% of each sale. Do the math on your expected monthly sales.
- Refund windows. Teachable and Kajabi give 30 days; Podia only 72 hours after a payment.
- Yearly-only plans. Podia and Passion.io show yearly prices.
- Product and contact caps. Teachable Starter and Kajabi Basic allow 5 products; Kajabi Basic includes 2,500 contacts.
- Branding. Thinkific shows its brand until Grow; Passion.io until Scale.
Which one should you pick?
- Your first course, smallest budget: Teachable Starter.
- Courses plus downloads and a small email list, no fees: Podia Shaker.
- You want to build before paying: Thinkific, with 30 days.
- Everything in one place, with a refund window: Kajabi.
- A mobile app under your own name: Passion.io.
How this guide was put together
The platform list comes from the guides that rank highest for this job, Zapier, Foundr and Influencer Marketing Hub, plus tools that run partner programs. Plans, fees and terms come from each platform's own pricing and terms pages, read on 3 Nov 2026. User ratings and review themes come from each tool's Trustpilot page, read the same day; they reflect what reviewers chose to post, not a survey of all users.