Podia vs Teachable compared on real monthly cost, fees, email limits and community, plus the all-in-one pick for creators who sell more than courses.
Short answer: Podia is the better fit for most creators who sell more than one thing. Email, community, coaching and downloads come with every plan, and the Shaker plan ($99 a month) takes no platform fee. Teachable is the more focused course platform, with native student apps and solid course tools, but its email is basic, its community feature is closed to new schools, and certificates need the $189 Growth plan. If you want Podia's breadth without its 100–1,000 subscriber email cap, Zinstruct includes 5,000 contacts from $98 a month.
All prices, fees and features below were checked against each company's public pricing page and help center on October 19, 2026. Prices change, so confirm on the vendor's site before you buy.
Podia vs Teachable at a glance
| Podia | Teachable | Zinstruct | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | Creators selling courses, downloads, community and email from one site | Course-first businesses that want a polished student experience | Courses, coaching, community, email and downloads with a large list included |
| Entry price (monthly billing) | $49/mo (Mover) | $39/mo (Starter) | $98/mo (Core) |
| Entry price (annual billing) | $42/mo | $29/mo | $78/mo |
| Fee on each sale | 5% on Mover, 0% on Shaker and Earthquaker, plus 2.9% + $0.30 card processing | 7.5% on Starter, 0% on Builder and Growth, plus 2.9% + $0.30 card processing | 5%, 2.9% or 1.9% by plan, card processing included |
| Products | 50 / 150 / unlimited | 5 / 10 / 50 | 12 / 30 / 70 |
| Team seats | 1 assistant on Shaker, unlimited on Earthquaker | 1 / 1 / 5 admins | 3 / 10 / 25 |
| Email marketing | Yes: campaigns, automations, segments. 100 / 500 / 1,000 subscribers included | Basic emails to students from Builder; no campaigns or automations | Yes: broadcasts, automations, segments. 5,000 / 20,000 / 50,000 contacts included |
| Quizzes | Yes, with passing scores | Yes, auto-graded | Yes, graded |
| Completion certificates | Yes | Growth plan only | Yes |
| Community | Yes: spaces, group chat, DMs, paid tiers | In maintenance mode and closed to new schools | Yes: chat, posts and events |
| Coaching booking | Through a connected scheduler (Calendly, SavvyCal and others) | Milestones and intake forms; Calendly integration | Built in: self-booking, payment at booking, reminders |
| Upsells and order bumps | Shaker and Earthquaker | All plans | Advanced and Professional |
| Affiliate program | Shaker and Earthquaker | Builder and Growth | Professional |
| Native student mobile apps | Not listed | Yes, iOS and Android | Not listed |
| Free trial | 14 days, no credit card | 7 days | 7 days, no credit card |
| Refunds | Within 72 hours of a payment | 30-day money-back guarantee | 30-day money-back guarantee |
How much does Podia cost compared with Teachable?
Podia pricing
Podia has three plans (Podia pricing):
| Plan | Monthly | Annual (per month) | Podia fee | Products | Email subscribers included |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mover | $49 | $42 | 5% | 50 | 100 |
| Shaker | $99 | $84 | 0% | 150 | 500 |
| Earthquaker | $179 | $150 | 0% | Unlimited | 1,000 |
On top of Podia's fee, your payment processor (Stripe or PayPal) charges its own fee, typically 2.9% + $0.30 per US card payment. Affiliates, upsells, PayPal and Zapier start on Shaker.
The number to watch is email subscribers. Every plan includes email marketing, but only up to 100, 500 or 1,000 subscribers. Past that, you pay a monthly add-on that costs the same on every plan: about $45 a month for a list of up to 5,000 on monthly billing, or $36 a month billed annually. A creator with a few thousand subscribers will pay that on top of the plan price.
Teachable pricing
Teachable has three self-serve plans plus a custom tier (Teachable pricing):
| Plan | Monthly | Annual (per month) | Teachable fee | Products | Admin users |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $39 | $29 | 7.5% | 5 | 1 |
| Builder | $89 | $69 | 0% | 10 | 1 |
| Growth | $189 | $139 | 0% | 50 | 5 |
Teachable Payments charges 2.9% + $0.30 per domestic US card payment (Teachable fees). Three smaller costs are easy to miss:
- Subscriptions cost more to process. On the default Standard bundle, Teachable adds 0.7% to every recurring payment and 0.5% to any payment where tax is assessed.
- Free students can cost money. On schools created since September 3, 2026, students added outside a paid checkout (free courses, 100%-off coupons, imports) are free up to 100, then $0.50 per student per month (Teachable usage fees). A free lead-magnet course that pulls in 1,000 students would add $450 a month.
- Your own Stripe account costs extra. US schools that connect their own Stripe account instead of Teachable Payments pay a 2% integration fee on top of Stripe's rates.
Zinstruct pricing
| Plan | Monthly | Annual (per month) | Fee per sale | Products | Contacts | Team members |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Core | $98 | $78 | 5% | 12 | 5,000 | 3 |
| Advanced | $148 | $118 | 2.9% | 30 | 20,000 | 10 |
| Professional | $198 | $158 | 1.9% | 70 | 50,000 | 25 |
Zinstruct pays the Stripe card-processing fee for you, so the percentage above is the whole cut, with no extra $0.30 per payment. See the full breakdown on the Zinstruct pricing page.
The real cost: plan price plus fees
Sticker prices hide what you actually pay once sales come in. Here is the all-in monthly cost of each platform's entry plan at three revenue levels.
Assumptions: monthly billing, US cards, every sale is a $100 one-time course purchase, no sales tax assessed, Teachable on Teachable Payments (Standard bundle), Podia on Stripe at 2.9% + $0.30.
| Monthly sales | Podia Mover ($49) | Teachable Starter ($39) | Zinstruct Core ($98) |
|---|---|---|---|
| $2,000 | $213 | $253 | $198 |
| $5,000 | $459 | $574 | $348 |
| $10,000 | $869 | $1,109 | $598 |
What the table tells you:
- The cheapest sticker price is the most expensive plan to run. At $5,000 a month in sales, Teachable Starter's 7.5% fee costs $375 on its own, almost ten times the plan price, and Podia Mover's 5% costs $250 plus card processing.
- Zinstruct Core costs less at every revenue level shown, and the gap widens as you grow: $226 a month less than Teachable Starter at $5,000 in sales, and $511 less at $10,000.
- Core also includes 5,000 email contacts. Mover includes 100 email subscribers, and Starter has no email marketing at all.
What about the no-fee plans?
To drop the platform fee, you'd move up to Podia Shaker ($99) or Teachable Builder ($89). On plan and payment fees alone, those cost less than Zinstruct Core. But most creators who sell courses also run an email list, and that's where the comparison changes. Here is a $5,000-a-month business with 5,000 email subscribers:
| Platform and plan | Plan + payment fees | Email for 5,000 subscribers | Monthly total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Podia Shaker | $259 | $45 add-on | $304 |
| Podia Earthquaker | $339 | $45 add-on | $384 |
| Teachable Builder | $249 | Separate email tool | $249 + your email tool |
| Zinstruct Core | $348 | Included | $348 |
| Zinstruct Advanced | $293 | Included | $293 |
Teachable recommends tools like Mailchimp or Kit for anything beyond basic student emails. Kit's free plan covers up to 10,000 subscribers for broadcasts, but automated sequences need a paid plan (Kit pricing).
Where Podia wins
- Breadth on every plan. Courses with quizzes and certificates, downloads, community, events, a website with a blog, and email marketing are all included.
- No platform fee from $99. Shaker and Earthquaker take 0%, and you pay only card processing.
- Generous product limits. Even Mover allows 50 products, and Earthquaker is unlimited.
- Live events and webinars. You can sell tickets to Zoom, Google Meet, YouTube Live or in-person events, then turn the replay into a product.
- Free migrations. Podia's team moves products, courses and customer lists by hand.
Where Teachable wins
- Lowest price with no platform fee. Builder is $89 a month ($69 billed annually) with 0% transaction fees on Teachable Payments.
- Student apps. Native iOS and Android apps come with every plan.
- Payments and tax. Teachable Payments handles US sales tax, VAT and GST, with 35+ local payment methods available on its Global bundle.
- Course-first tools. Auto-graded quizzes, short-answer assessments, course compliance settings and up to 1 TB of video storage.
Where both fall short
Podia's gap is the email cap. Email is one of Podia's best features, and every plan limits it hard: 100 subscribers on Mover, 500 on Shaker, 1,000 on Earthquaker. Moving to a higher plan doesn't make extra subscribers cheaper. Coaching also depends on an outside scheduler, so booking and payment live in two places.
Teachable's gap is everything around the course. Its community feature went into maintenance mode in August 2026, and Teachable no longer offers it to new schools; it suggests course comments or a Discord or Slack link instead (Teachable help center). Email is limited to custom messages to students on Builder and up, without campaigns or automations. Certificates and more than one admin require Growth, at $189 a month. Starter and Builder allow just 5 and 10 products.
Why Zinstruct is the better pick for most knowledge businesses
Most people comparing Podia and Teachable are choosing between a broad platform with tight email limits and a focused course platform that needs other tools bolted on. Zinstruct is built to remove that trade-off: every product you need to sell what you know, with a real email list included, on one platform.
What you get on every plan:
- [Courses](/courses) built for teaching: native video hosting, graded quizzes, drip scheduling, downloadable materials and automatic completion certificates.
- Coaching with booking built in: clients self-book into your open slots, pay at booking, and get automatic reminders. Run one-on-one calls, group cohorts or packages, with no separate scheduling tool.
- [Newsletters](/newsletters) with room to grow: broadcasts, automations and segments, with 5,000 contacts on Core, 20,000 on Advanced and 50,000 on Professional.
- A community: chat, posts and events for your members.
- Downloads: sell PDFs, templates and recordings one-off or in bundles, with instant delivery.
Compared with Podia:
- Core includes 5,000 email contacts, against 100 on Podia Mover and 500 on Shaker.
- Card processing is included in Zinstruct's fee, so there's no $0.30 added to every payment.
- Coaching booking, payment and reminders happen inside the platform instead of a connected scheduler.
Compared with Teachable:
- Community and full email marketing are part of every plan.
- Completion certificates don't require a $189 plan.
- Core includes 3 team members, against 1 admin on Teachable Starter and Builder.
Cancel flows that keep members. When a member clicks cancel, Zinstruct can ask why they're leaving, then show save offers matched to that reason. Core includes 3 cancel flows, Advanced 20 and Professional 50.
Being straight about the trade-offs: Podia allows more products on every tier, includes a website builder with a blog and ticketed events, and offers affiliates from $99 a month (Zinstruct's affiliate program is on Professional). Teachable has native student apps and built-in tax handling, and Builder costs less than any Zinstruct plan at lower revenue. Sales funnels, quiz funnels and checkout upsells start on Zinstruct's Advanced plan, not Core.
You can try Zinstruct for 7 days without a credit card, and every paid plan has a 30-day money-back guarantee.
How to choose: a quick decision guide
- Choose Podia if you want an all-in-one site with events and a blog, your email list is under 1,000 (or you're happy to pay the add-on), and you'll be on Shaker once sales pick up.
- Choose Teachable if you sell courses first, your students want a native mobile app, and you already pay for a separate email tool and community.
- Choose Zinstruct if you sell more than one thing (a course and coaching, a community and a newsletter, downloads alongside any of them) and want your email list included instead of metered.
Frequently asked questions
Is Podia cheaper than Teachable?
Not at the entry level: Teachable Starter is $39 a month and Podia Mover is $49. Among plans with no platform fee, Teachable Builder ($89) is cheaper than Podia Shaker ($99). But Podia includes email marketing and a community that Teachable doesn't, so the cheaper option depends on what else you'd pay for.
Does Teachable still have a community feature?
Not for new schools. Teachable put Community into maintenance mode in August 2026: existing communities keep working, but Teachable isn't adding features or fixing bugs, and new schools can't create one. Teachable recommends course comments or a third-party tool like Discord or Slack.
Which has lower transaction fees, Podia or Teachable?
On their entry plans, Podia: Mover takes 5% against Teachable Starter's 7.5%. On higher plans, both take 0%, and you pay card processing of 2.9% + $0.30 per US card payment. Teachable adds 0.7% to recurring payments on its Standard bundle, so memberships cost slightly more to process there.
Can I send email newsletters from Teachable?
Only basic ones. From the Builder plan, you can send custom emails to students in your school, but there are no campaigns or automations. Teachable suggests connecting a dedicated email tool such as Mailchimp or Kit for full email marketing.
What's the best alternative to both Podia and Teachable?
If you want courses, coaching, community, newsletters and downloads on one platform with your email list included, Zinstruct starts at $98 a month with 5,000 contacts, built-in coaching booking, and card processing included in its fee.
Try the all-in-one alternative
If Teachable feels too narrow and Podia's email limits feel too tight, see what one platform with every product looks like. Start your 7-day free trial of Zinstruct, no credit card required, and compare plans on the pricing page. Weighing community platforms too? Read our Kajabi vs Skool comparison.