Looking around for a place to land for my courses, I recently ran across Kajabi. Its fees look like a lot more than Teachable and Thinkific — but you have to consider all fees when comparing online learning platforms.
Teachable and Thinkific can run in the ~$40/month range PLUS transaction fees. This seems like a steal right, after seeing that Kajabi runs more than $100/month. But you have to take into account the transaction fees! Be prudent and run some comparisons. Estimate your sign-ups and go with what works best for you! You may find that Kajabi is a deal!
Entry Level Plan Info
To help with your research, here are some common, often used online learning platforms and ballparks on their entry plans:
- Teachable – $29/mo plus 5% transaction fees (higher level $79/mo has no transaction fees)
- Thinkific – $39/mo plus transaction fees (higher level $99/mo has no transaction fees)
- Kajabi – $119/mo, NO transaction fees
- Podia – around $40/mo, can save if pay annually
- Accessally – around $82/mo – plugin type
- MemberVault
- Kartra
- Mighty Networks
- New Zenler – in beta?
Free Trials
Mostly, they allow for free trials of 14 days to a month so you can investigate what they have to offer. Its not quite enough time, however, to be able to leisurely start working on a course and not release it for a while, but perhaps this is a good thing because it will spark action?
Special Offers
Sometimes, like during Black Friday or other holidays, these platforms will run promos (think discounts or extra training). You may even find when you buy a bundle, that you can get a little longer trial period for free.
Using WordPress
You could host your training or courses on your own WordPress platform, but that opens up security concerns, the need to run your own helpdesk essentially, and can slow down your site’s performance.
What Happens When You Stop Paying?
I’ve yet to check with others, but so far Teachable confirmed that if a course creator stops paying for service, the material will still be available for the students. I was concerned about this myself since I bought so many mid-priced courses! I’ll add more as I find out about the other platforms.
