Kohortly vs Disco
Disco and Kohortly both run cohorts. Kohortly also handles how learners pay and show up.
Disco is the closest platform to Kohortly: cohort programmes, a community, AI-assisted course building, assignments with grading and analytics, sold to academies, associations and companies. Kohortly covers the same ground and adds the parts training organisations run by hand today: fees paid by bank transfer or mobile money, WhatsApp and SMS reminders, employers paying for groups of learners, and attendance for in-person days.
The short answer
Choose Disco if
- Your learners all pay by card, or your programmes are free or paid for by your own company.
- You want AI to draft course outlines and grade assignments.
- You sell to associations and corporate L&D teams in the US or Europe.
Choose Kohortly if
- Learners pay by bank transfer, M-Pesa, UPI, Pix, cash or in instalments.
- An employer or sponsor pays for a group of learners on one invoice.
- Reminders need to reach people on WhatsApp or SMS, not only email.
- You run in-person days and need a register or QR check-in.
Disco and Kohortly at a glance
- Price
- Disco: Create $399/month billed yearly ($499 monthly) for 250 active members; Scale from $999/month, yearly only
- Kohortly: From $49 a month ($41 billed yearly). Every feature on every plan, 0% on what learners pay.
- Fee on payments
- Disco: No Disco fee; Stripe card fees
- Kohortly: 0%
- Best for
- Disco: Academies, associations and company training
- Kohortly: Organisations running cohorts with offline fees
- Free trial
- Disco: On Create (7 or 14 days; Disco's page says both)
- Kohortly: We set up your community with you
Feature by feature
| Feature | Kohortly | Disco |
|---|---|---|
| Community feed, categories and polls | ||
| Courses, lessons and progress | ||
| Points, levels and leaderboards | Leaderboards | |
| Live sessions | Live rooms in the browser, with breakout groups and recording | Zoom and built-in events |
| Admissions | Application forms with a review queue | Registration forms |
| Cohorts | Intakes with seats, dates and class times | Cohort programmes |
| Attendance | Online and in person, with QR check-in | Event attendance |
| Certificates | Issued on completion, with a public check page | |
| Small groups | Squads inside each cohort | Groups |
| Impact reporting | Impact reports and follow-up surveys | Analytics dashboards |
| Payments made outside a card checkout | Bank transfer, M-Pesa, UPI, Pix, card and cash recorded, with receipts and balances | Card checkout through Stripe |
| One payer for many learners | An employer or sponsor pays for several learners | |
| WhatsApp and SMS | WhatsApp and SMS reminders and announcements | |
| Email broadcasts and automatic sequences | ||
| Phone app | Installable web app under your own name and logo, plus the Kohortly phone app | Branded iOS and Android apps on Scale |
| Web address | kohortly.com/yourname, or your own domain | |
| Developer access | Public API, MCP server and CLI | API and webhooks on Scale |
| Fee on what learners pay | 0% | No Disco fee; Stripe card fees |
Disco details as of November 2026, from Disco pricing, eLearning Industry: Disco and published reviews. Prices and fees change, so check Disco's site before you decide.
What Disco really costs
The plan price is only part of the bill. Here is what each platform costs a month when 200 learners each pay $50 ($10,000 a month), on the cheapest plan that can sell memberships, billed yearly where offered: the plan, the platform's fee, and card processing where it is charged separately.
| Platform | Monthly cost | How it adds up |
|---|---|---|
| Skool Pro | $372 | $82 plan (yearly) + 2.9% Skool fee |
| SchoolMaker | $386 | $36 plan (yearly) + 0% + Stripe |
| Thinkific | $386 | $36 plan (yearly) + 0% + Stripe |
| LearnWorlds Pro Trainer | $429 | $79 plan (yearly) + 0% + Stripe |
| Podia Shaker | $434 | $84 plan (yearly) + 0% + Stripe (Mover adds 5%) |
| Kajabi Basic | $493 | $143 plan (yearly) + 0% + Kajabi Payments |
| Mighty Networks Launch | $629 | $79 plan (yearly) + 2% + Stripe |
| Whop | $630 | $0 plan + 3% community fee + 2.7% + $0.30 |
| Circle Professional | $639 | $89 plan (yearly) + 2% + Stripe |
| Disco | $749 | $399 Create plan (yearly, up to 250 active members) + 0% + Stripe |
| Teachable | $889 | $39 plan + 5% Teachable fee + card processing |
| Skool Hobby | $1,008 | $7.50 plan (yearly) + 10% Skool fee |
| Maven | $1,350 | $0 to list + 10% of each sale + Stripe |
| Patreon | $1,350 | 10% platform fee + 2.9% + $0.30 |
| Discord | $1,600 | 10% fee + about 6% desktop processing |
| Udemy | $6,300 | Free to publish; Udemy keeps 63% of marketplace sales |
| Kohortly | $56–$406 | Starter billed yearly ($41) plus 100 more learners ($15), and 0% on learner payments. $406 if all 200 pay by card through your own provider; $56 when they pay by bank transfer or mobile money. |
Worked from each vendor's published prices in November 2026. Fees change and card rates vary by country, so check before you decide.
Where Disco and Kohortly overlap
Both platforms start from the programme rather than an open membership. You create a cohort, add a curriculum of lessons and live sessions, and learners move through it together with a community alongside.
Disco leans on AI: it can draft a course outline, generate content and help grade assignments, and its analytics are aimed at learning and development teams reporting up to a company. Kohortly has assignments with feedback, quizzes, certificates and an Ask helper that answers learners from your own lessons.
Getting paid the way your learners pay
Disco takes payment by card through Stripe. Many of the organisations we work with are paid by bank transfer, mobile money such as M-Pesa, UPI or Pix, a company cheque, a card on their own machine (Visa, Mastercard, American Express) or cash at the first session, often in instalments.
Kohortly records each payment against the learner's fee account, issues a receipt, shows the balance and reminds people before an instalment is due, by email, WhatsApp or SMS. Nothing is taken from what your learners pay: Kohortly charges 0%.
When an employer pays for ten staff, one payer covers all ten seats and gets one invoice, while each learner still has their own place in the cohort.
Reaching people where they already are
Disco sends reminders by email and in-app notification. Kohortly sends class reminders on WhatsApp with "I'll be there" and "Can't make it" buttons, and the answers appear on the attendance list. Announcements can go by email, WhatsApp, SMS and the in-app bell at once.
Learners can also add your community to their home screen as an app under your own name and logo, so they open your programme, not someone else's brand. The Kohortly phone app keeps all their communities under one sign-in.
Attendance and certificates that prove the work
Disco records attendance for its own events, but has no register or QR check-in for in-person days. In Kohortly, people who join a live session are marked present automatically, and for in-person days staff can tick a register or learners can scan a QR code at the door, even on a weak connection.
Completion rules can require attendance as well as lessons. When a learner finishes, their certificate is issued with a public check page, so an employer can confirm it is genuine.
Where Disco is the better choice
No platform suits everyone. Disco does these things better than Kohortly:
- AI tools that draft courses and help grade assignments.
- A polished product for corporate learning teams and associations.
- A self-serve trial with a published starting price.
Moving from Disco to Kohortly
- Request a community. We set it up with your name, logo and colours, at kohortly.com/yourname or on your own domain.
- Import your members from a CSV export, with their names, emails and phone numbers.
- Recreate your programmes and courses. Lesson videos can be uploaded or embedded, and we can help with the move when we agree your plan.
- Invite members to sign in. Their history starts in Kohortly from the next intake.
Questions
How much does Disco cost?+
Disco Create is $399 a month billed yearly, or $499 monthly, for up to 250 active members and one academy. Scale starts from $999 a month, billed yearly, with branded apps, the API and SSO. Disco takes no fee on sales; Stripe's card fees apply. Check disco.co for current plans.
Is Disco a cohort-based learning platform?+
Yes. Disco is built around cohort programmes with a community, courses, events and assignments. Kohortly is too, and adds offline fee records, WhatsApp and SMS reminders, employer-paid seats and in-person attendance.
Disco or Kohortly: which should I choose?+
Choose Disco if your learners pay by card and you want AI course-building tools. Choose Kohortly if your learners pay by bank transfer, mobile money or through an employer, and you need WhatsApp reminders and in-person attendance.
Other comparisons
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