The real cost depends less on the plan price you see and more on your sales volume and which payment processor you use, since two of these three platforms only look cheap on their entry tier once you factor in per-sale fees that scale with revenue.
What you'll learn in this article
- What each platform's real entry-level cost is once fees are included
- Where each platform's cost model actually differs: commission, processor-dependent fees, or contact-based scaling
- A concrete example of what $10,000 a month in sales costs on each
- What to check before assuming a sticker price is the real price
Teachable: cheap until you sell anything
Teachable's Starter plan runs about $29 to $39 a month, but it carries a 7.5% transaction fee on every sale, on top of standard card processing. That fee disappears entirely once you move to the Builder plan, roughly $69 to $89 a month, and above. For anyone selling more than a course or two a month, Builder often ends up cheaper in total than staying on Starter and paying the commission. We break the tiers down further on our Learn 360 vs Teachable comparison.
Thinkific: 0% only if you use their payment processor
Thinkific no longer offers a permanent free plan, and its paid tiers run from about $40 to $219 a month depending on level. The platform advertises 0% transaction fees, and that's true if you process payments through Thinkific's own payment system. If you connect your own Stripe account instead, a separate gateway fee applies: 5% on the entry tier, 2% on the middle tier, 1% on the higher tier, waived after your first $1 million a year in sales. That distinction rarely makes it into the headline pricing, and it's the detail we dig into on our Learn 360 vs Thinkific comparison.
Kajabi: no cheap entry tier, but 0% commission throughout
Kajabi doesn't have a low-cost entry option at all. Plans start around $179 a month and scale up to $499 depending on how many contacts you have, from 2,500 up to 100,000. What you do get at every tier is 0% commission on sales, so the price you see is closer to the full story than it is with the other two. One caveat worth knowing: that 0% is Kajabi's own platform commission through Kajabi Payments. Like the others, connecting your own Stripe instead adds a processor fee of roughly 0.5% to 5% depending on your tier, which we cover on our Learn 360 vs Kajabi comparison.
What $10,000 a month in sales actually costs
On Teachable's Starter plan, $10,000 in monthly sales means roughly $750 in transaction fees on top of the subscription, more than the cost of just upgrading to Builder. On Thinkific, that same $10,000 costs nothing extra if you're on Thinkific Payments, but could mean $500 or more if you're using your own Stripe on a lower tier. On Kajabi, the $10,000 in sales costs nothing beyond the flat monthly plan if you use Kajabi Payments, though you're paying more upfront regardless of sales volume.
What to actually check before signing up
Which payment processor does the advertised 0% commission actually assume? Does the fee change based on your sales volume, or just your plan tier? Is there a cheaper entry point that becomes worse than a higher tier once you're actually selling?
Where Learn 360 differs
Learn 360 avoids all three of these complications: one flat $100 a month covers any payment processor, and 0% commission applies regardless of sales volume or which processor you use.