Teachable

Best for

Creators selling structured video courses who want a professional learning experience without building custom tech.

Not best for

Creators selling non-course products (ebooks, templates), or those who want full control over their website and checkout experience.

When to use it

When you're ready to create a structured online course with video content, quizzes, and student tracking. Especially valuable when you want payment plans and built-in affiliate features.

When not to use it

When you're selling simple digital downloads (use Gumroad instead), when you need maximum flexibility in sales page design, or when the monthly fee doesn't justify your current revenue.

Expert take

Teachable is the right choice when courses are your primary product format. Don't start with Teachable for your first $9 ebook — use Gumroad. But when you're ready for a $99-$499 course with modules, progress tracking, and a professional student experience, Teachable is worth the investment.

Simple setup for a new coach

Sign up, create your school, add a course with modules and lessons, upload your content, configure pricing, and publish. A basic course can be set up in a few hours.

How it fits the workflow

Teachable covers the 'sell' and 'deliver' stages for course-based products. It handles payment, enrollment, content delivery, and student management.

Common mistake

Choosing the free plan and losing 10% of revenue on every sale. If you're making consistent sales, upgrade to a paid plan where the math works in your favor. Also: don't let the platform's features delay your launch — a simple 5-lesson course is better than a 50-lesson course that never ships.

What Is Teachable?

Teachable is an online course platform that lets creators build, host, and sell courses without technical complexity. It provides the full stack: a course builder, payment processing, student management, and even basic marketing tools — all under one roof.

Since its founding in 2014, Teachable has hosted over 100,000 courses and processed billions in creator earnings. It’s one of the most popular choices for creators entering the online course market.

Key Features

Course builder: Drag-and-drop editor for organizing modules and lessons. Supports video, text, quizzes, and downloadable files.
Custom sales pages: Built-in landing page builder with templates optimized for course sales. More customizable than Gumroad’s pages.
Payment processing: Accept credit cards and PayPal. Supports one-time payments, payment plans, and subscriptions.
Student management: Track enrollment, progress, completion rates, and engagement metrics.
Certificates: Automatically generate completion certificates for students.
Affiliate program: Built-in affiliate management so others can promote your course for a commission.
Upsells and order bumps: Increase average order value with one-click upsells during checkout.

Pricing

Free plan: $1 + 10% transaction fee per sale. Basic plan: $59/month with 5% transaction fee. Pro plan: $159/month with 0% transaction fees and advanced features. Business plan: $665/month with priority support and advanced customization.

Who It’s Best For

Teachable is ideal for creators who want to sell online courses and want a dedicated platform that handles everything. If your primary product is a video course with structured modules and you want a professional student experience, Teachable delivers.

Where It Falls Short

Teachable’s free and basic plans take a significant cut of your revenue (10% and 5% respectively). The Pro plan eliminates transaction fees but costs $159/month — a high fixed cost for creators just starting out. The sales page builder, while functional, is less flexible than building your own with WordPress. And Teachable is really just for courses — if you also sell ebooks, templates, or other digital products, you’ll need additional tools.

Create Your Course on Teachable

Build the system behind your tools