Kohortly vs Teachable
Teachable keeps selling courses simple. Kohortly takes nothing from what learners pay.
Teachable is a simple way to sell courses, coaching and digital downloads by card. Lower plans charge a transaction fee of 5–7.5% on top of card processing, which adds up as you grow. Kohortly charges 0% on learner payments and is built for cohort programmes rather than one-off course sales.
The short answer
Choose Teachable if
- You want the simplest way to sell a course by card.
- You also sell coaching or digital downloads.
- You're starting small and don't need cohorts.
Choose Kohortly if
- You run cohorts with admissions, seats and class times.
- You don't want a percentage taken from what learners pay.
- Learners pay offline, in instalments or through an employer.
- You need attendance, certificates and reports for funders.
Teachable and Kohortly at a glance
- Price
- Teachable: About $39/month and up
- Kohortly: From $49 a month ($41 billed yearly). Every feature on every plan, 0% on what learners pay.
- Fee on payments
- Teachable: 5–7.5% on lower plans, plus card fees
- Kohortly: 0%
- Best for
- Teachable: Solo creators selling courses
- Kohortly: Organisations running cohorts
- Community
- Teachable: Basic comments
- Kohortly: Feed, chats, squads and channels
Feature by feature
| Feature | Kohortly | Teachable |
|---|---|---|
| Community feed, categories and polls | Lesson comments | |
| Courses, lessons and progress | ||
| Points, levels and leaderboards | ||
| Live sessions | Live rooms in the browser, with breakout groups and recording | Coaching calls |
| Admissions | Application forms with a review queue | |
| Cohorts | Intakes with seats, dates and class times | |
| Attendance | Online and in person, with QR check-in | |
| Certificates | Issued on completion, with a public check page | On paid plans |
| Small groups | Squads inside each cohort | |
| Impact reporting | Impact reports and follow-up surveys | Sales and course analytics |
| Payments made outside a card checkout | Bank transfer, M-Pesa, UPI, Pix, card and cash recorded, with receipts and balances | Card checkout only |
| 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 | Basic | |
| Phone app | Installable web app under your own name and logo, plus the Kohortly phone app | Teachable-branded app |
| Web address | kohortly.com/yourname, or your own domain | |
| Developer access | Public API, MCP server and CLI | API on higher plans |
| Fee on what learners pay | 0% | 5–7.5% on lower plans |
Teachable details as of November 2026, from Teachable pricing and published reviews. Prices and fees change, so check Teachable's site before you decide.
What Teachable 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.
What the fees cost as you grow
Teachable's lower plans add a transaction fee of 5% to 7.5% on each sale, and card processing comes on top. At $10,000 a month in course sales, 5% is $500 a month before card fees. Higher plans remove the fee but cost more each month.
Kohortly starts at $49 a month and takes 0% from what learners pay, however they pay: card on your own machine, bank transfer, M-Pesa, UPI, Pix or cash.
Cohorts, not just a membership
Teachable sells courses that learners take at their own pace. Kohortly starts from the programme: you open an intake with a start date, seats and class times, people apply, your team admits them, and they move through the cohort together until graduation.
Every learner has a record that follows them: which intake they joined, which sessions they attended, what they paid and which certificate they earned. When a funder or board asks how the last cohort went, the answer is already there.
If you only need an open membership that anyone can join with a card, Teachable may be all you need. If you admit people into programmes that start and finish, that structure is what Kohortly is for.
Getting paid the way your learners pay
Teachable takes payment through its own card checkout. 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.
Where Teachable is the better choice
No platform suits everyone. Teachable does these things better than Kohortly:
- Very easy to start selling a course.
- Coaching and digital downloads in the same store.
- Checkout, tax handling and payouts done for you.
Moving from Teachable 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 Teachable cost?+
Teachable's plans start at roughly $39 a month, and lower plans charge a 5% to 7.5% transaction fee on top of card processing. Check teachable.com for current plans and fees.
Does Teachable take a percentage of sales?+
On its lower plans, yes: about 5% to 7.5% per sale plus card fees. Kohortly takes 0% of what learners pay.
What's a Teachable alternative for cohort programmes?+
If you run programmes with intakes, admissions, attendance and certificates, and learners pay by bank, mobile money or through an employer, Kohortly is built for that.
Other comparisons
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