Podia vs Teachable (2026) | Which Platform Is Right For You?

TL;DR: Podia vs Teachable (2026)
I’ve been a paying Podia customer since 2018, and I’ve recommended Teachable to clients for years. In 2026 they solve different problems.

Podia is a community-first all-in-one platform. It gives you a website, email marketing, community, courses, downloads, coaching, and events in one subscription at a low price.

Teachable is a focused learning platform. It delivers courses, coaching, and memberships with more structure, and it handles sales tax for you, but it leaves your website and lead email to other tools.

Pricing
Podia starts at $42/month on annual billing ($49 monthly) with a 5% transaction fee. Shaker at $84/month removes the fee.

Teachable starts at $29/month on annual billing ($39 monthly) with a 7.5% transaction fee. Builder at $69/month removes the fee.

Choose Podia if you want one low-cost platform for your site, email list, community, and products, and your courses are simple.
Choose Teachable if the course is your core product, your students need structure, or you sell across borders and want tax handled.

Try Podia for Free | Try Teachable for Free

Podia and Teachable are among the best online course platforms. For years they competed for the same first-time course creator.

That changed in 2026.

Podia relaunched in June 2026 as a community-first platform while improving its courses, email marketing and coaching features.

Teachable has also continued to evolve. But it has remained a specialized online learning platform with deep learning experiences and payment maangement capabilities.

I’ve been a paying Podia customer since 2018, and I’ve also recommended Teachable to the right clients for years.

In this comparison I cover what each one costs at real revenue levels, how their core features differ, and which one fits your situation.

Podia vs Teachable: The Main Differences

Podia runs your whole small business in one place and keeps each part simple. Teachable goes deeper on the learning product and expects you to bring your own website and email tool.

	Podia	Teachable
Built for	Creators who want a site, list, community, and products in one low-cost account	Course creators and coaches who want a dedicated learning platform
Core strength	Community, email marketing, and an easy website builder	Course delivery, coaching, student management, and tax handling
Starting price	$42/mo on annual billing ($49 monthly)	$29/mo on annual billing ($39 monthly)
Transaction fees	5% on Mover, 0% on Shaker and Earthquaker	7.5% on Starter, 0% on Builder and above. 2% extra for US schools that use their own Stripe
Product limits	50 products on Mover, 150 on Shaker, unlimited on Earthquaker	5 published products on Starter, 10 on Builder, 50 on Growth
Email marketing	Broadcasts, campaigns, and automations on every plan, priced by subscriber count	Built-in email for students from Builder. Lead nurturing needs a tool like Kit
Website	Full website, blog, landing pages, and custom domain on every plan	School site and sales pages. Custom domain from Builder, no blog
Course controls	Drip, multiple-choice quizzes, and certificates on every plan	Course compliance, auto-graded quizzes, and short-answer assessments. Certificates from Growth
Sales tax	Calculates and applies tax at checkout. You file and remit	Collects and remits US sales tax, VAT, and GST through teachable:pay
Free trial	14 days, no credit card	7 days, plus a 30-day money-back guarantee

Read: The best online course platforms right now

Podia vs Teachable Overview: What Each Platform Offers

Both platforms let you create and sell courses online without touching code. They differ in how much of the surrounding business they try to run.

What Is Podia?

Podia is an all-in-one platform for creators who sell courses, digital downloads, coaching, events, and community access. It includes a website builder and email marketing, so one subscription can replace three or four tools.

The 2026 relaunch put community at the center. Everyone who signs up, subscribes, or buys joins your community, and courses and other products sit around it. Podia also dropped its free plan, so you now start with a 14-day free trial.

Podia favors ease over depth. Every feature works with little setup, and each one stops short of what a specialist tool does. Read my full Podia review for a closer look.

Main Podia Features

• Course builder with video, drip, quizzes, cohorts, and completion certificates
• Community with a home feed, spaces, group chat, direct messages, and paid tiers
• Email marketing with broadcasts, campaigns, automations, tags, and segments
• Website builder with a blog, landing pages, and a custom domain on every plan
• Coaching products that connect to Calendly and other schedulers
• Virtual and in-person events
• An MCP connection to Claude and ChatGPT on every plan
• Affiliates, upsells, PayPal, and Zapier from the Shaker plan

What Is Teachable?

Teachable is a hosted platform for creating and selling courses, coaching, memberships, and digital downloads. It launched in 2013 and is now part of the Hotmart group.

Teachable’s strength is the learning product. The course builder is quick to learn, student management is detailed, and its teachable:pay system handles payments, subscriptions, and sales tax for you. Students also get iOS and Android apps.

It stops where marketing starts. Teachable has no blog or funnel builder, and its email reaches students only. So it works best when you already have a site and a list. Read my full Teachable review for more detail.

Main Teachable Features

• Course builder with drip scheduling, auto-graded quizzes, and course compliance rules
• Coaching products with built-in scheduling, intake forms, and milestones
• Memberships and bundles that don’t count toward your product limit
• US sales tax, VAT, and GST handling through teachable:pay
• Upsells, order bumps, coupons, and abandoned cart emails
• Affiliate program with automated payouts from the Builder plan
• AI tools for course outlines, quizzes, and transcripts
• iOS and Android apps for students

Podia vs Teachable Pricing: How Much Do They Actually Cost

Neither platform has a free plan anymore, and both charge a transaction fee on the entry tier. The differences are in what each plan caps.

Podia limits email subscribers, and Teachable limits published products.

Podia Pricing

Podia has three plans and a 14-day free trial that needs no credit card. If you pay and change your mind, you have 72 hours to ask for a refund.

• Mover: $42/month billed annually ($49 billed monthly), 5% transaction fee
• Shaker: $84/month billed annually ($99 billed monthly), no transaction fee
• Earthquaker: $150/month billed annually ($179 billed monthly), no transaction fee

The number to watch is email subscribers. Mover includes 100, Shaker includes 500, and Earthquaker includes 1,000, and you pay more as your list grows past those limits. Mover also leaves out affiliates, upsells, PayPal, and Zapier. I break down each plan in my Podia pricing guide.

Teachable Pricing

Teachable has three self-serve plans and a Custom tier for larger schools. Its free plan ended in June 2025, so you now get a 7-day free trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee.

• Starter: $29/month billed annually ($39 billed monthly), 7.5% transaction fee
• Builder: $69/month billed annually ($89 billed monthly), no transaction fee
• Growth: $139/month billed annually ($189 billed monthly), no transaction fee
• Custom: quote-based pricing for high-volume schools

Starter is a testing plan. It has no community, no custom domain, and no affiliates, and its fee adds up fast. Builder is the realistic starting point, and certificates and white labeling wait on Growth.

Memberships and bundles don’t count toward the product cap, which softens the limits a little.

My Teachable pricing guide covers every plan.

Podia vs Teachable Pricing Comparison

Here’s how the comparable plans line up. Prices are per month on annual billing.

	Podia	Teachable
Entry plan	Mover at $42	Starter at $29
Mid plan	Shaker at $84	Builder at $69
Top self-serve plan	Earthquaker at $150	Growth at $139
Platform fee	5% on Mover, none above	7.5% on Starter, none above
Card processing	Stripe or PayPal rates, 2.9% + 30¢ in the US	2.9% + 30¢ in the US, 3.9% + 30¢ internationally
Products	50, 150, or unlimited	5, 10, or 50 published
Students or customers	Unlimited	Unlimited
Email subscribers included	100, 500, or 1,000	No lead email. Student email from Builder
Free trial	14 days	7 days

Podia vs Teachable: Real Cost at $10,000 and $50,000 a Month

Plan prices tell you little once you’re selling. So I worked out what each plan costs in a month where you sell $10,000 and one where you sell $50,000.

I’ve assumed a $200 average sale, annual billing, and US card processing at 2.9% plus 30 cents. The totals include the plan price, card processing, and any transaction fee.

Plan	Cost at $10,000/month	Cost at $50,000/month
Podia Mover	$847	$4,067
Podia Shaker	$389	$1,609
Podia Earthquaker	$455	$1,675
Teachable Starter	$1,084	$5,304
Teachable Builder	$374	$1,594
Teachable Growth	$444	$1,664

The entry plans are the expensive ones.

At $10,000 a month, Podia Mover costs $847 and Teachable Starter costs $1,084, because their fees take $500 and $750 of your sales.

Moving up one tier cuts the bill by more than half on both platforms.

Above the entry tier the two are close.

Teachable Builder costs $374 and Podia Shaker costs $389 at $10,000 a month, a gap of $15.

At $50,000 the gap is the same $15, since neither plan charges a fee on sales.

Email changes the math in both directions.

Podia Shaker includes email for 500 subscribers, and you pay Podia more as your list grows.

Teachable includes no lead email, so most users add a tool like Kit, which starts at $33/month on annual billing for 1,000 subscribers.

Price both for your own list size before you choose.

Two more costs sit outside the table.

Teachable handles tax filing on your sales, and Podia leaves that work or an accountant’s bill to you. US schools that connect their own Stripe account to Teachable pay an extra 2%, which is $1,000 a month at $50,000 in sales.

You can check the processing math on your own prices with my Stripe fee calculator.

Podia vs Teachable Features: How They Compare And Who Wins

I’ve compared the two platforms on the six features that matter most to an expertise business. Each section ends with my pick.

Feature	Winner	Why
Course creation and learning structure	Teachable	Compliance rules, better assessments, and student apps
Community	Podia	A full community product with chat, paid tiers, and events
Coaching	Teachable	Native scheduling, intake forms, and milestones
AI features	Podia	An MCP connection on every plan that covers the whole business
Email marketing and automation	Podia	Lead email, campaigns, and automations built in
Other marketing and sales features	Podia	Website, blog, and landing pages, though Teachable handles tax better

Podia takes four of the six. Teachable takes the two that matter most when teaching and coaching are the product.

Feature #1: Course Creation and Learning Structure

The course builder decides how much control you have over the way students learn. I’ve included memberships here because both platforms use them to package courses.

Podia

Podia’s course builder is quick to learn. You add sections and lessons, drop in video, audio, text, files, or embeds, and publish. Content can drip by days after purchase, and you can set access limits, cap seats, presell a course, or run it as a cohort.

Assessment is basic. Quizzes are multiple choice or multiple answer, and Podia has no assignments or graded exams. Completion certificates come on every plan, which Teachable holds back until Growth. You can see each student’s progress and last active date.

What Podia lacks is control. You can’t require students to finish lessons in order or pass a quiz before they move on. Memberships run through the community as paid tiers, and you bundle courses into each tier. The product allowance is generous at 50, 150, or unlimited.

Teachable

Teachable’s builder is the easiest I’ve used with clients, which helps when you’re creating your first online course. You add sections and lessons, upload content, and publish. Its AI drafts outlines and quiz questions to speed up the build.

Course compliance is what Podia can’t match. You can require students to complete lessons in order, pass a quiz, and watch a set share of a video before they continue. Teachable also offers auto-graded quizzes and short-answer assessments, and its reports show progress for every student.

Students can learn in the iOS and Android apps, and memberships are a product type that sits outside your product cap. The weak points are the caps of 5, 10, and 50 published products and certificates that wait until Growth. For formal exams and assignments, I’d compare Teachable with Thinkific.

Winner: Teachable. It gives you real control over how students progress and assesses them in more ways. Podia wins on product limits and includes certificates on every plan.

Feature #2: Community

Community keeps members engaged between lessons, and it gives you a recurring product to sell. The two platforms treat it very differently.

Podia

Community is the center of the new Podia. Everyone who signs up, subscribes, or buys becomes a member, so your audience gathers in one place without extra setup. Members see a home feed of recent posts and replies when they log in.

You organize discussion into spaces by topic or tier, and you can create free and paid plans that gate access. Group chat, member-to-member messages, and creator-to-member messages are built in. Podia also runs virtual and in-person events from the same account, and you can bundle community access with any product.

Engagement tools are thin. Podia offers badges for milestones, and it has no points, levels, or leaderboards. It also has no mobile app that I can point members to. Space limits are 25 on Mover, 100 on Shaker, and unlimited on Earthquaker, which is plenty for most creators.

Teachable

Teachable added a community feature in 2024, and it starts on the Builder plan. It’s a forum-style space with categories, topics, and moderation tools, and students reach it from inside your school.

It supports a course well. Students ask questions, share work, and talk to each other between lessons. Access comes through a course or membership, so the community works as part of a paid product.

It doesn’t stand up as a product you sell by itself. Teachable’s community has no live events, no chat, and no gamification, so activity depends on your own prompting. If community is what you’re selling, you’d pair Teachable with a dedicated community platform, which adds another subscription and another login for members.

Winner: Podia. Its community is a product you can sell, with chat, paid tiers, and events. Teachable’s version is a discussion board for enrolled students.

Feature #3: Coaching

Coaching usually carries your highest price, so how a platform books, sells, and tracks sessions matters more than it first appears.

Podia

Podia lets you sell coaching as a product with its own sales page and price. Clients pay first and then book a time. You can sell one-to-one or group sessions and bundle them with courses, downloads, or community access.

Scheduling runs through a tool you connect. Podia integrates with Calendly, Squarespace Scheduling, YouCanBookMe, and SavvyCal, and the session takes place on Zoom or another video tool. So you’ll likely pay for a scheduler in addition to Podia.

Podia’s advantage is what surrounds the session. Clients can join your community between calls, and an automated email can check in after a package ends. What it lacks is client management. Podia has no intake forms, session notes, or milestones, so you track each client’s progress somewhere else.

Teachable

Teachable treats coaching as its own product type, which is rare among course platforms. It includes built-in scheduling, so clients book inside your school and you don’t need Calendly.

Intake forms collect what you need before the first call, and milestones let you set a path for each client and mark progress along it. You can sell coaching alone, attach it to a course, or offer it as an upsell at checkout.

The call still runs on Zoom or another video tool, so recordings are yours to manage. Each coaching product also counts toward your published product cap, and that fills up fast on Starter and Builder. Payments run through teachable:pay with tax handled, which helps when clients are spread across countries.

Winner: Teachable. Native scheduling, intake forms, and milestones make it a real coaching tool. Podia sells the session and leaves the management to you.

Feature #4: AI Features

AI can now draft a course, write your emails, and answer questions about your sales. What matters is whether it works across your business or only inside the course builder.

Podia

Podia took a different route from most platforms. It offers an MCP connection on every plan, which links your account to Claude, ChatGPT, or another AI tool that supports the standard. You then ask for what you need in plain words.

Through that connection, the AI can turn your notes into a draft course, write a broadcast for a segment, add pages to your site, create community spaces, draft posts, and make coupons. It can also answer sales questions, such as revenue, failed payments, and what you owe affiliates.

New connections start as read-only, and you approve each permission, which is the right default. The catch is that you need your own AI subscription. Podia has no assistant inside its dashboard, so a creator who doesn’t use Claude or ChatGPT gets nothing from this.

Teachable

Teachable’s AI lives inside the course builder. It generates a course outline from a description, writes quiz questions from your lessons, and produces transcripts for your videos. The Growth plan adds free subtitles and translations.

These tools need no outside subscription and no setup, so a beginner will use them on day one. They stop at course content. Teachable’s AI doesn’t write a sales page, plan a launch email, or report on your revenue.

Teachable does have an MCP server, and it’s limited today. Teachable describes it as experimental and in early access. It needs the Growth plan or higher, runs locally, and works only with Claude. That may change, and for now it trails what Podia includes on its cheapest plan.

Winner: Podia. Its MCP connection covers courses, email, website, community, and sales on every plan. Teachable is the better pick if you want AI built into the course builder with no extra tool.

Feature #5: Email Marketing and Automation

Email turns an audience into buyers and buyers into repeat customers. This is the widest gap between the two platforms.

Podia

Podia Email is a full email marketing tool inside your account. You can send broadcasts, build multi-email campaigns, and set automations that fire when someone joins your list, buys a product, or signs up for an event.

Tags and segments let you target by behavior and purchase history, and because email shares a database with your store, it already knows who bought what. Signup forms, lead magnets, templates, and a custom sending domain are included. Reports show opens, clicks, and the revenue each email produced.

Two limits apply. Automations are simple triggers, without the branching logic of ActiveCampaign or Kit. And pricing follows your list. The included 100, 500, or 1,000 subscribers won’t last long, so a growing list raises your Podia bill.

Teachable

Teachable’s built-in email starts on the Builder plan and reaches people already in your school. You can message enrolled students, announce a new course, and send abandoned cart emails to buyers who left the checkout.

It can’t nurture leads. Teachable has no opt-in forms tied to sequences, no lead magnets, and no campaign builder for people who haven’t bought. For that you connect a tool like Kit or ActiveCampaign, and Kit starts at $33/month on annual billing.

The trade-off is two systems. Your students live in Teachable and your leads live in the email tool, and you connect them through integrations, Zapier, or webhooks. In return, a dedicated email platform gives you deeper automation than Podia does. That setup suits a creator who already runs a list elsewhere.

Winner: Podia. It includes lead email, campaigns, and automations in the plan. Teachable expects you to bring your own email tool.

Feature #6: Other Marketing and Sales Features

Beyond email, a platform has to bring in visitors and convert them at checkout. Here I compare websites, checkout tools, affiliates, and tax.

Podia

Podia gives you a full website on every plan. You get a homepage, unlimited landing pages, a blog, and a custom domain, with themes you adjust without code. For many creators that removes the need for WordPress or Squarespace.

Every product has a sales page, and buyers can use a shopping cart to purchase several products at once. Coupons are on every plan. Upsells, the affiliate program, PayPal, and Zapier start on Shaker. Podia will also migrate your products and customers from another platform for free.

Tax is the weak spot. Podia calculates and applies the right rate for 230 jurisdictions, and it stops there. Filing and remitting stay with you. Podia also has no order bumps, and its checkout offers fewer conversion tools than Teachable’s.

Teachable

Teachable is stronger at the checkout. Every plan includes upsells, order bumps, coupons, and abandoned cart recovery. Bundles sit outside your product cap, and student referrals let buyers bring in new buyers.

Its biggest advantage is tax. teachable:pay collects and remits US sales tax, VAT, and GST on your behalf, which saves real time once you sell internationally. My sales tax and VAT calculator shows what tax adds to each sale. The affiliate program starts on Builder and pays your affiliates automatically.

Teachable falls short before the checkout. It has sales pages and a simple school site, and it has no blog and no landing page builder for lead capture. A custom domain needs Builder, and removing Teachable’s branding needs Growth. So most Teachable users run a separate website.

Winner: Podia. A website, blog, and landing pages on every plan replace a separate site. Teachable wins on checkout tools and tax handling, which matters more as international sales grow.

Podia vs Teachable: Pros and Cons

These are the practical strengths and weaknesses you’ll notice once you’re running a business on each platform.

Podia Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Website, email, community, and products under one login and one bill	5% transaction fee on Mover
Generous product limits, from 50 on Mover	Email subscriber limits are low, and a growing list raises the price
Certificates and a custom domain on every plan	No course compliance, assignments, or graded exams
Community with chat, paid tiers, and events	You file and remit your own sales tax
MCP connection to Claude and ChatGPT on every plan	Coaching needs an outside scheduler, and there’s no student mobile app
Free migrations from other platforms	Affiliates, upsells, PayPal, and Zapier need Shaker

Teachable Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Course compliance and stronger assessments	7.5% transaction fee on Starter
Sales tax, VAT, and GST collected and remitted for you	Published product caps of 5, 10, and 50
Native coaching with scheduling, intake forms, and milestones	No blog, landing page builder, or lead email
Upsells, order bumps, and cart recovery on every plan	Certificates and white labeling need Growth
iOS and Android apps for students	Only a 7-day trial and no free plan
Unlimited students on every plan	No custom domain or community on Starter

Podia vs Teachable Verdict: Which One Should You Choose

Both platforms are good, but they suit different businesses. Podia is the better all-in-one, and Teachable is the better learning platform.

Match the choice to your situation.

• You’re starting from zero with no site and no list: choose Podia Shaker. One subscription gives you a website, email, community, and products, with no fee on sales.
• You sell several small products, such as downloads, mini-courses, and a community: choose Podia. Its product limits are far higher, and Teachable’s caps would push you up a tier.
• Community or a paid membership is the main thing you sell: choose Podia. Teachable’s community only supports a course.
• Your course is the product and students must complete it properly: choose Teachable Builder. Course compliance and better assessments justify it. You’ll need Growth for certificates.
• You sell coaching alongside courses: choose Teachable. Its coaching product manages clients, and Podia’s only sells the session.
• You sell to buyers in many countries: choose Teachable. Having tax collected and remitted for you is worth more than the small price gap.
• You already have a website and an email tool you like: choose Teachable. You won’t use Podia’s main advantages.

If I were starting today without an audience, I’d pick Podia Shaker. It gets a site, a list, and a first product live for one price, and I’d avoid Mover because the 5% fee costs more than the upgrade once sales reach about $840 a month on annual billing. If I already had a list and a serious course to deliver, I’d pick Teachable Builder.

If neither fits, my Podia vs Kajabi and Podia vs Thinkific comparisons cover the next options up, and Kajabi vs Teachable shows what a premium all-in-one adds.

Both offer free trials, so test the one that fits your stage. Start with Podia if you want everything in one place, or start with Teachable if the course comes first.

Podia vs Teachable: Frequently Asked Questions

Is Podia better than Teachable?

Podia is better if you want a website, email marketing, community, and products in one low-cost account. Teachable is better if your course is the core product and you need completion rules, stronger assessments, native coaching, or tax handling. Podia covers more of the business, and Teachable goes deeper on learning.

Is Podia cheaper than Teachable?

Teachable has the lower plan prices, starting at $29 a month on annual billing against $42 for Podia. Podia is often cheaper overall, because it includes a website and email marketing that Teachable users pay for separately. On the fee-free plans, the two cost within about $15 a month of each other.

Do Podia and Teachable have free plans?

Neither has a free plan in 2026. Podia dropped its free plan and offers a 14-day free trial with no credit card. Teachable ended its free plan in June 2025 and offers a 7-day free trial plus a 30-day money-back guarantee on paid plans.

Do Podia and Teachable charge transaction fees?

Both charge a fee on the entry plan only. Podia takes 5% on Mover and nothing on Shaker or Earthquaker. Teachable takes 7.5% on Starter and nothing on Builder or Growth. Card processing of about 2.9% plus 30 cents per sale applies on both platforms on every plan.

Which is better for beginners, Podia or Teachable?

Podia is better for a beginner with no website or email list, because one subscription covers the site, the list, and the products. Teachable is better for a beginner who already has an audience and wants to launch one well-structured course quickly.

Which platform handles sales tax and VAT?

Teachable handles more of it. Its teachable:pay system collects and remits US sales tax, VAT, and GST for you. Podia calculates and applies the correct tax rate at checkout for 230 jurisdictions, and you remain responsible for filing and paying the tax you collect.

Does Podia or Teachable have a mobile app?

Teachable has iOS and Android apps where students take courses. Podia doesn’t offer a student app, so members use your site in a mobile browser. If your students learn on their phones, this is a point in Teachable’s favor.

Can I sell memberships on Podia and Teachable?

Yes. Podia sells memberships as paid community plans, and you can include courses and other products in each tier. Teachable offers memberships as a product type, and they don’t count toward your published product limit. Podia suits community memberships, and Teachable suits content library memberships.

Which has better email marketing, Podia or Teachable?

Podia does. It includes broadcasts, campaigns, automations, tags, segments, and signup forms on every plan, with pricing based on subscriber count. Teachable’s built-in email starts on the Builder plan and reaches enrolled students only, so most Teachable users add a tool like Kit for lead nurturing.

Can I migrate from Teachable to Podia?

Yes. Podia migrates course content, digital downloads, and customer email addresses for free, covering up to 50 products on Mover and 150 on Shaker and Earthquaker. Active subscriptions are the hard part, because recurring payments don’t transfer automatically. Plan the move between launches.

What are the best alternatives to Podia and Teachable?

Thinkific is the strongest alternative for structured courses with exams and assignments. Kajabi is the premium all-in-one with deeper marketing and automation. Skool and Circle suit businesses where community is the main product. The right one depends on whether you prioritize learning depth, marketing, or community.

See also:

• Podia Review: A Top All-in-One Online Course Platform
• Teachable Review: One of the Best Platforms for New Course Creators

Jeff Cobb, Founder of Learning Revolution

Jeff Cobb is an expert in online education and the business of adult lifelong learning. Over the past 20+ years he has built a thriving career based on that expertise – as an entrepreneur, a consultant, an author, and a speaker. Learning Revolution is a place where Jeff curates tips, insights, and resources to help you build a thriving expertise-based business. Learn more about Jeff Cobb here.