Podia vs Teachable 2026: Which Keeps More of Your Money?

Last updated: August 2026

Quick answer: below roughly $520/month in course sales, Teachable Starter at $29 keeps more of your money. Above that, Podia does, and the gap widens fast as you grow. Podia charges 5% per sale on its entry plan against Teachable’s 7.5%, and it bundles email marketing that would cost you another $29/month elsewhere.

Both platforms killed their free plans. Podia dropped its free tier in late 2024, and Teachable followed in June 2025 (Teachable Help Center, 2025). You’re paying either way in 2026. The real question is which fee structure costs you less at your revenue level.

I’ve pulled apart both pricing pages, tested both editors, and run the fee math at three revenue levels. The numbers below reflect both pricing pages as of August 2026.

TL;DR: Podia wins for solo creators who want email marketing, unlimited products, and faster payouts in one dashboard. Teachable wins for creators selling internationally who need automated tax compliance, and for anyone below about $520/month in sales. G2 rates Podia 4.6/5 for ease of use against Teachable’s 4.4/5 (G2, 2025). Sell domestically and want one tool? Podia. Need VAT handling or a mobile app? Teachable.

Podia vs Teachable: Side-by-Side Comparison

Here’s the full matrix so you can scan what matters to you. Prices are the annual-billing rates from each platform’s live pricing page (Podia Pricing, 2026; Teachable Pricing, 2026). Podia also sells a third tier, Earthquaker, at $150/month, but most creators comparing these two never need it.

Feature	Podia Mover	Podia Shaker	Teachable Starter	Teachable Builder	Teachable Growth
Monthly price (annual billing)	$42	$84	$29	$69	$139
Transaction fee	5%	0%	7.5%	0%	0%
Products allowed	Unlimited	Unlimited	5	10	50
Active student cap	Unlimited	Unlimited	100	1,000	5,000
Email marketing	Built-in (100 subs free)	Built-in (500 subs free)	Transactional only	No	No
Native mobile app	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Community	Spaces (channels)	Spaces (channels)	Basic threads	Basic threads	Basic threads
AI course tools	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Tax / MOR	Stripe/PayPal (you manage)	Stripe/PayPal (you manage)	Teachable Pay (automatic)	Teachable Pay (automatic)	Teachable Pay (automatic)
Affiliate payouts	Included	Included	BackOffice fee (2-2.8%)	BackOffice fee (2-2.8%)	BackOffice fee (2-2.8%)
Payout speed	~2 days (Stripe)	~2 days (Stripe)	Daily/weekly/monthly	Daily/weekly/monthly	Daily/weekly/monthly

One trap softened and one stayed. Teachable’s Starter plan used to cap you at a single product; it now allows five. The 100-active-student cap is the limit that still bites, though Teachable lifts the student caps once you pass $10,000/year in sales on the platform. Podia never caps products or students on any plan.

Which Platform Is Actually Cheaper?

Teachable’s $29 Starter plan beats Podia’s $42 Mover plan at low volume, even with its higher 7.5% transaction fee (Teachable Pricing, 2026). The crossover sits near $520/month in course sales. Below that, Teachable’s lower base price wins. Above it, Podia’s lower fee takes over and never gives the lead back.

Here’s the true cost at three revenue levels (annual billing rates):

At $500/month in course sales:

• Podia Mover: $42 + $25 in fees = $67/month total
• Teachable Starter: $29 + $37.50 in fees = $66.50/month total
• Podia Shaker: $84 flat
• Teachable Builder: $69 flat

At $2,000/month in course sales:

• Podia Mover: $42 + $100 in fees = $142/month total
• Teachable Starter: $29 + $150 in fees = $179/month total
• Podia Shaker: $84 flat, which saves $58/month vs staying on Mover
• Teachable Builder: $69 flat

At $5,000/month in course sales:

• Podia Mover: $42 + $250 in fees = $292/month
• Teachable Starter: $29 + $375 in fees = $404/month
• Podia Shaker: $84 flat
• Teachable Builder: $69 flat

At $5,000/month in sales, anyone still on Podia Mover is handing over $208/month in avoidable fees. The upgrade to Shaker pays for itself once your fees pass the $42 gap between the two plans. That breakeven lands at $840/month in sales. Set a revenue alert and upgrade the day you cross it.

Remember the hidden line item on the Teachable side: if your students skew international, Teachable’s built-in tax handling can be worth more than any fee difference. More on that below.

Which Is Better for Beginners?

Podia is the better choice for first-time course creators. G2 rates Podia 4.6 out of 5 for ease of use, compared to Teachable’s 4.4 out of 5 (G2 Category: Online Course Platforms, 2025). Podia’s setup is faster, there are no student caps to plan around, and you don’t need to connect a separate email tool to start marketing your course.

Teachable has a steeper ramp. The feature depth helps experienced creators, but it piles decisions onto someone launching their first course. The AI tools draft content outlines for you, yet you still have to configure Teachable’s payment gateway, pick a payout schedule, and wire up a separate email platform before you can market anything.

The Starter plan’s limits matter less than they used to. Five products is enough room for a first course plus the ebook, workshop, and freebie that tend to follow it. The 100-active-student cap is the one to watch: a single successful launch can blow through it, and then you’re upgrading to Builder at $69 whether you planned to or not. Teachable does remove the student caps once you clear $10k/year in platform sales, but a new creator hits the cap long before the waiver.

Podia never creates that pressure. Unlimited products and students from day one.

Which Has Lower Transaction Fees?

Podia charges a 5% transaction fee on its entry Mover plan; Teachable charges 7.5% on Starter (Podia Pricing, 2026; Teachable Pricing, 2026). Both drop to zero when you upgrade: Podia at $84/month (Shaker), Teachable at $69/month (Builder). So Podia’s percentage is lower at entry, but Teachable’s zero-fee plan costs $15/month less once you’re ready to move up.

There’s also a Teachable fee most buyers miss. Automated affiliate payouts run through BackOffice, which adds 2% to 2.8% per transaction. Podia includes affiliate tools on Shaker with no extra charge.

Payment volume changes the calculus too. Run a $10,000 launch week while still on a transaction-fee plan and you donate $500 to $750 depending on the platform. Upgrade before any planned launch, not after.

Which Has Better Course Creation Tools?

Teachable has the stronger course creation toolkit, mostly because of its AI features (Teachable Blog, 2025). The AI Course Starter turns a text prompt into a full curriculum with lesson content and a draft sales page. The AI Quiz Generator builds assessments from uploaded course materials. Teachable reports that creators using these AI tools have collectively earned over $7.7 million since the rollout (Teachable, 2025).

Podia has no native AI course tools. You build everything by hand. The editor is clean and drag-and-drop, and it stays out of your way, but every lesson, module, and quiz needs manual input. If you produce multiple courses or update content often, that time adds up.

Teachable also offers course compliance on the Growth plan. You can require students to watch 90% of a video or pass a quiz before advancing. That matters for professional certification programs. Podia’s quiz tool is multiple-choice only, with no pass/fail scoring.

Does Podia or Teachable Have Better Email Marketing?

Podia has built-in email marketing; Teachable does not (Podia Features, 2026). Podia’s native tool covers broadcasts, basic automations, and list management inside your dashboard. Mover includes 100 subscribers free and Shaker includes 500; pricing scales with list size after that. For most solo creators, that kills the need for a separate email platform.

Teachable sends transactional emails only: order confirmations, enrollment notices, password resets. No native broadcast or automation tool. You need ConvertKit, Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign, or similar to run campaigns. ConvertKit’s Creator plan starts at $29/month for up to 1,000 subscribers (ConvertKit Pricing, 2026). That cost never shows up in Teachable’s headline price.

The math: a creator on Teachable Starter ($29/month) plus ConvertKit Creator ($29/month) pays $58/month before transaction fees. Podia Mover at $42 includes both.

Which Platform Has Better Community Features?

Podia’s community tool goes deeper for creators who treat community as part of the product (Podia Community Features, 2026). Spaces work like organized topic channels where members post updates, links, images, and polls. You can sell community access as a standalone product or bundle it with a course. It’s one of the strongest parts of the platform.

Teachable’s community features work but stay shallow. Discussion threads and lesson comments exist on all plans. There’s no channel structure, no standalone community product, and no clean way to build recurring revenue around the community itself.

Neither platform is a dedicated community product, though. If community is the core of your business model rather than an add-on, purpose-built platforms go deeper on engagement tools, gamification, and member retention.

Creators do build sustainable memberships on Podia’s Spaces. The feature holds up as a primary community when you bundle it with course access. It falls short as a standalone product where member interaction is the main value.

Tax Handling Is Teachable’s Quiet Advantage

Teachable acts as the Merchant of Record through its teachable:pay gateway, handling VAT, GST, and US sales tax automatically across 200+ countries (Teachable Help Center, 2026). You don’t file anything. Teachable calculates, collects, and remits on your behalf.

Podia connects straight to your Stripe or PayPal account, and tax compliance stays on you. Podia added checkout tax calculation tools, but filing and remittance remain your job. Selling to EU customers means managing VAT registration thresholds and quarterly filings yourself, or paying for a service like Quaderno (from $49/month) or TaxJar.

The tradeoff is payout speed. Teachable’s Merchant of Record structure means it holds funds and releases them on a daily, weekly, or monthly schedule depending on your plan. Podia pays through Stripe in about two business days.

International VAT compliance is not optional. EU authorities have fined non-compliant sellers since the OSS VAT scheme launched in 2021. If more than 10% of your revenue comes from EU customers, Teachable’s automatic handling is worth more than the price gap between platforms.

Which Is Better for Mobile Students?

Teachable has native iOS and Android apps. Students can download content for offline viewing, get push notifications, and switch between dark and light mode (Teachable Mobile App, 2025). For audiences that learn on phones, during commutes or gym sessions, that matters.

Podia has no native mobile app. The mobile web experience is responsive and works fine, but students lose offline access, push notifications, and the polish of a native app. If your audience is mobile-first, Teachable holds a clear advantage here.

The gap matters more in some niches than others. Business, finance, and professional development courses skew desktop. Fitness, wellness, and lifestyle niches skew heavily mobile.

How Does the Migration Work Between Platforms?

Neither Podia nor Teachable offers a one-click migration tool, so moving between them is a manual multi-day project (Podia Support, 2026). Budget three to seven days for a typical single-course library. A full multi-course archive with a large student list can take two weeks.

Moving from Teachable to Podia:

• Course videos: download from Teachable’s media library, re-upload to Podia
• Student list: CSV export from Teachable, import into Podia’s student management
• Course structure: rebuild manually in Podia’s editor
• Sales pages: rebuild from scratch, since the page builders don’t export between platforms
• Affiliate data: Teachable affiliate history stays in Teachable; affiliates must re-register on Podia
• Tax compliance shift: Teachable was your Merchant of Record; on Podia, compliance runs through your own Stripe account

Moving from Podia to Teachable:

• Course videos: download from Podia, re-upload to Teachable
• Student list: CSV export, re-import into Teachable
• Email marketing: set up a separate tool (ConvertKit, Mailchimp) and migrate your list to it
• Community Spaces: Podia’s channel structure doesn’t migrate; rebuild or move members externally

Who should move from Teachable to Podia: creators on Starter clearing $520/month or more who want email marketing included and have no international VAT exposure.

Who should move from Podia to Teachable: creators who have expanded into international markets where Teachable’s Merchant of Record handling removes a real compliance burden.

Podia vs Teachable: Which Should You Choose?

Your choice comes down to two questions: do you sell internationally, and do you want email marketing built in? Podia fits most solo creators selling primarily to US and UK audiences who want one dashboard for courses, email, and community without a second subscription.

Choose Podia if:

• You sell digital products beyond courses (ebooks, templates, coaching, webinars)
• You want email marketing included without paying for a separate tool
• You need unlimited products and students from day one
• Cash flow matters and you want two-day payouts via Stripe
• You’re a solo creator who wants everything in one place

Choose Teachable if:

• You sell internationally and need automatic VAT, GST, and sales tax handling
• You want AI tools to speed up curriculum creation
• Your students are mobile-first and need offline access through a native app
• You’re building a certification program with compliance requirements
• You’re under $520/month in sales and want the lowest total cost right now

Neither platform is the right answer if community is the primary product rather than an add-on. Both treat community as secondary to course delivery.

Verdict: Category Winners

Category	Winner
Pricing at entry level	Teachable ($29 vs $42)
Transaction fees	Podia (5% vs 7.5%)
Total cost above $520/month in sales	Podia
Course creation tools	Teachable
Email marketing	Podia
Community features	Podia
Mobile app	Teachable
Tax / international compliance	Teachable
Payout speed	Podia
Product limits	Podia
Overall (domestic creators)	Podia
Overall (international sellers)	Teachable

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FAQ

Is Podia or Teachable better for beginners?

Podia is the better starting point. It scores 4.6/5 for ease of use on G2 compared to Teachable’s 4.4/5 (G2, 2025). Setup is faster, there are no student caps forcing early upgrades, and built-in email means one fewer tool to configure. Teachable’s AI course builder helps with content but adds configuration steps that slow a first launch.

Which platform has lower transaction fees?

Podia charges 5% on its Mover plan; Teachable charges 7.5% on Starter (Podia Pricing, 2026; Teachable Pricing, 2026). Both drop to 0% when you upgrade: Podia at $84/month, Teachable at $69/month. Podia’s fee is lower at entry level, and Teachable’s zero-fee Builder plan costs $15/month less at the upgraded tier, though it caps you at 10 products versus Podia’s unlimited.

Does Teachable still have a free plan in 2026?

No. Teachable removed its free plan in June 2025 (Teachable Help Center, 2025). The cheapest current option is Starter at $29/month on annual billing ($39 month-to-month), which carries a 7.5% transaction fee, a 5-product limit, and a 100-active-student cap. Podia also removed its free plan in late 2024.

Which platform is better for selling digital downloads?

Podia handles all digital product types natively. Courses, ebooks, templates, audio files, and webinars are first-class products from day one (Podia Features, 2026). Teachable was built primarily as a course platform, and digital downloads sit second in line. If you sell a mixed catalog, Podia’s product model fits better.

Which has better email marketing integration?

Podia includes native email marketing (broadcasts, automations, and list management) at no extra cost, with 100 free subscribers on Mover and 500 on Shaker (Podia Email Marketing, 2026). Teachable sends only transactional emails. For full campaigns, Teachable users must add ConvertKit (from $29/month) or Mailchimp. If you want marketing email without a second subscription, Podia is the straightforward pick.

Can I migrate from Teachable to Podia?

Yes, but it’s manual work. Neither platform offers a one-click migration tool. You download course videos from Teachable, re-upload them to Podia, export your student list as a CSV, and rebuild your sales pages from scratch. Budget three to five days for a single course, up to two weeks for a full library. The biggest friction is the sales pages, because the page builders don’t export between platforms.

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Both platforms compete in a wider field. See my best Teachable alternatives roundup for the full landscape, the Kajabi vs Teachable comparison for the premium counterpoint, and Thinkific vs Teachable if Thinkific is on your shortlist.

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• Thinkific vs Teachable
• Best Teachable Alternatives
• LearnWorlds Review