Teachable vs Thinkific: When the 7.5% Fee Reverses Price

Teachable’s pricing page lists Starter at $29 a month billed annually or $39 billed monthly, with a 7.5% transaction fee and a five-product limit; Builder costs $69 or $89 a month on those billing schedules, with a ten-product limit and no platform transaction fee when using Teachable Payments. After its August 2026 increase, Thinkific’s pricing update puts Basic at $475 per year or $54 when billed monthly, and Start at $978 per year or $109 when billed monthly. On annual billing, Starter’s subscription plus its percentage fee overtakes Basic at about $1,693 in annual fee-bearing sales, provided Basic is available and the creator uses Thinkific Payments.

The public Thinkific plan page displays Start as its entry plan, includes unlimited courses, and states that Thinkific Payments avoids an additional third-party gateway fee. For a creator offered Start rather than Basic, Starter’s modeled cost crosses Start’s at $8,400 in annual fee-bearing sales. Those thresholds compare subscriptions and specified platform fees, not every charge deducted from a sale.

What the annual subscriptions cost at different sales levels

Let annual fee-bearing sales be the checkout value on which Starter’s 7.5% fee is charged. Starter’s annual subscription is $348, so its modeled cost is $348 plus 0.075 times that sales value. Basic’s modeled cost is its $475 annual subscription when payments run through Thinkific Payments. The $127 difference in fixed costs is exhausted at $1,693.33 of fee-bearing sales.

The sometimes-quoted $1,760 crossover comes from multiplying Thinkific’s rounded $40 monthly equivalent by twelve to get $480. Its stated annual charge is $475, making $1,693 the more precise threshold for an annual-billing decision. The difference is small, but it can change the apparent winner for a creator whose sales sit close to the crossover.

These conditional examples assume each plan processes the same amount of fee-bearing sales for a full year. They include subscription charges and the specified platform transaction fee:

At $1,000 in sales, Starter costs $423; Basic costs $475; Builder costs $828; and Start costs $978.
At $5,000, Starter costs $723. Basic, Builder and Start remain at $475, $828 and $978 on this measure.
At $10,000, Starter rises to $1,098. That exceeds Basic at $475, Builder at $828 and Start at $978.

Builder becomes cheaper than Starter within Teachable when annual fee-bearing sales exceed $6,400: Starter’s $348 subscription plus the fee then overtakes Builder’s $828 subscription. That comparison helps a creator who wants to stay on Teachable, while the Basic calculation remains conditional on access to that plan.

When Thinkific Start is the available entry plan

Start changes the buying decision because its $978 annual subscription is substantially higher than Basic’s $475. Against Start, Starter retains its lower modeled cost until its fee-bearing sales reach $8,400 a year. A creator with low sales and a small catalog may therefore pay less on Starter even though each sale incurs the percentage fee.

Builder’s $828 annual subscription is lower than Start’s $978 fixed charge and has no Teachable platform transaction fee with Teachable Payments. Start may still be worth the difference for a school that needs its live cohorts, coaching, assignments, certificates or payment plans. The useful comparison is between plans that can run the intended teaching format, rather than between their entry prices alone.

Monthly billing changes the break-even points

Across twelve month-to-month payments, Starter’s fixed cost becomes $468 and Basic’s becomes $648. Starter’s fee consumes that $180 difference at $2,400 in annual fee-bearing sales. This is a full-year comparison using monthly rates; it does not assume that sales arrive evenly throughout the year.

Builder costs $1,068 across twelve monthly payments, so Starter reaches Builder’s total at $8,000 in fee-bearing sales. Annual billing makes each subscription cheaper, but paying monthly may suit a creator who expects to use the platform for less than a year. A shorter subscription period needs its own calculation because these break-even points assume twelve payments.

Product limits can force a move before fees do

Starter’s five-product allowance and Builder’s ten-product allowance count published courses, coaching offers and digital downloads. A membership, bundle or unpublished draft does not use one of those slots. A creator planning several short courses plus separate downloads can therefore outgrow Starter while its transaction fee is still smaller than the subscription gap to another plan.

Thinkific’s unlimited-course allowance removes that particular constraint from the Start comparison. It does not make the plans interchangeable: the type of teaching matters alongside the number of courses. A catalog of recorded lessons puts more weight on published-product capacity, while a program built around cohorts, assignments and certificates calls for checking the relevant teaching tools before relying on the cost figures.

Payment gateways and international tax change the work

The Basic and Start figures assume Thinkific Payments. Using an outside processor can add a Thinkific third-party gateway fee, so neither crossover applies unchanged to that setup. Builder’s zero platform transaction fee assumes Teachable Payments. Standard payment processing, and any other applicable checkout charges, sit outside every modeled total; the figures are not forecasts of take-home income.

For qualifying transactions through Teachable Payments, Teachable’s tax guidance covers calculation, collection and remittance of U.S. sales tax, EU and UK VAT, and digital-content taxes in additional markets where the platform is legally required to handle them. Coverage depends on the buyer’s location, the creator’s location and the transaction. With a custom payment gateway, the creator handles tax collection and remittance; Teachable can calculate EU and UK VAT at checkout, but the creator must remit amounts collected.

Under Thinkific’s tax guidance, Thinkific Payments calculates, collects and remits tax on qualifying U.S. and Canadian purchases; sellers can enable UK and EU VAT calculation, but remain responsible for determining their obligations and remitting VAT charged there. Thinkific provides downloadable tax reports for that filing work. For a creator selling heavily to European buyers, the difference in remittance responsibility can matter more than a narrow subscription saving.

Which plan makes sense?

Starter has the lowest modeled subscription cost for a small catalog with modest sales. Basic, when offered, overtakes it quickly on subscription plus platform fees; the publicly displayed Start plan takes much more sales volume to do so. Builder gives Teachable users a way to avoid Starter’s percentage fee and publish more products.

Choose among the plans actually offered to your school, using expected fee-bearing sales and the number and format of products you intend to publish. Then account separately for payment charges and the tax remittance left to you in the markets where your students buy. Those conditions determine both the revenue you keep and the administrative work the subscription price leaves out.