Teachable

Teachable is an all-in-one online course platform that empowers creators, coaches, and entrepreneurs to build and sell courses, coaching programs, and digital downloads. With its user-friendly course builder and built-in business tools, Teachable handles the technical complexity of running an online education business so you can focus on creating great content and serving your students.

Best For

Course creators and educators who want a complete business solution without the technical overhead. Teachable is ideal for:

• Individual creators launching their first online course without coding or design skills
• Established educators migrating from other platforms who need more customization and branding control
• Coaches and consultants offering tiered programs with courses, coaching calls, and community access
• Subject matter experts monetizing their knowledge through structured learning experiences
• Entrepreneurs building education businesses that need payment processing, student management, and marketing tools in one place

The platform shines when you want to own your brand completely — from custom domains to white-labeled course players that don't advertise Teachable to your students.

How does Teachable handle course content?

Unlimited multimedia hosting with drag-and-drop course builder. Upload videos (any length), PDFs, audio files, quizzes, and text lectures without storage limits on paid plans. The course builder uses a simple outline structure where you organize content into sections and lectures. Students access content through a clean, mobile-responsive player that supports video streaming, downloadable resources, and progress tracking. You can drip content on a schedule, set prerequisites between lectures, and offer completion certificates.

What about student engagement? Built-in discussion forums appear below each lecture, quiz functionality includes multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank questions, and you can offer live coaching sessions through integrations with Zoom or Calendly. The platform also includes basic email marketing tools to communicate with students directly from your Teachable admin.

How does payment processing work? Integrated Stripe and PayPal support with flexible pricing models: one-time payments, subscriptions, payment plans, and course bundles. Teachable handles sales tax calculation (via TaxJar integration), affiliate payouts, and supports multiple currencies. Students get instant access after payment, and you receive payouts according to your selected schedule (monthly on the Free plan, instant on Power+ plans).

Can I customize the course site? Power Editor provides drag-and-drop customization of your course site pages (homepage, sales pages, course curriculum pages) without coding. For advanced users, CSS and HTML editing is available. You can add custom domains, integrate your own email marketing tools, embed courses on external websites, and use custom checkout pages to match your brand completely.

Pricing & Plans

• Free Plan: $1 + 10% transaction fee per sale - Unlimited students, courses, and video hosting. Basic features with Teachable branding.
• Basic Plan: $59/month ($39/month annual) + 5% transaction fee - Custom domain, coupon codes, drip content, email marketing.
• Pro Plan: $159/month ($119/month annual) + 0% transaction fee - Graded quizzes, course completion certificates, affiliate reporting, 5 admin users.
• Pro+ Plan: $249/month ($199/month annual) + 0% transaction fee - 20 admin users, bulk student enrollments, custom user roles, advanced reports, manual student imports.

Note: All paid plans eliminate Teachable branding from your course site. Annual billing saves ~25-30%. Free plan is great for testing, but transaction fees add up quickly once you're selling regularly.

Getting Started

1. Sign up at teachable.com with email or Google account
2. Create your first course using the course builder (add sections and lectures)
3. Customize your school - add logo, custom domain, and brand colors
4. Set pricing and connect Stripe or PayPal for payments
5. Publish course and create a sales page to start enrolling students

Teachable offers extensive documentation, weekly webinars, and a creator community to help you launch successfully.

Limitations

• Transaction fees on lower-tier plans eat into revenue (10% on Free, 5% on Basic)
• Limited marketing automation compared to dedicated email platforms like ConvertKit or ActiveCampaign
• No native community features - discussions are lecture-specific only, no broader forums or member directories
• Quiz functionality is basic - no advanced question types like matching, ordering, or essay questions with rubrics
• Page builder has constraints - customization is easier than most competitors but still limited compared to full website builders
• Affiliate tracking exists only on Pro+ plan - $159/month minimum to run an affiliate program

Teachable prioritizes simplicity over advanced features, making it perfect for creators who want to teach rather than manage complex software.