When it comes time to launch an online course, its each to get overwhelmed with the options out there, in this article I’ve dive into the 3 most popular ones in 2023 and compare them against each other.
Obviously I’m talking about Podia, Teachable & Thinkific.
Podia vs Teachable vs Thinkific; TLDR if you are in the hurry here’s the jist
- If you are a solo creator launching courses go for Podia its the best for solo entrepreneurs with maybe a VA or 2.
- If you are a company or startup go with Thinkific its the easiest to work on as a team.
- Skip Teachable 😉
Click Here To Try Podia Free For 14-days
Podia vs Teachable vs Thinkific
Podia is easily the newest guy on the block, however it’s defiantly revolutionized the online course place and made things extremely simple especially for solo creators especially making it my preferred choice. By the end of this article you’ll see why Podia is right for you!
Teachable
- $99/month
- 5% Fee on $39 plan
- Free plan with 10% free
- Monthly payments
- Multiple Admin Support (5)
- Unlimited courses & students
- No Digital Downloads
- Email marketing
- 24/7 support (only email)
- No memberships
- No Blog
- No Embedded Checkout
- Affiliate marketing
- Third-Party Code
- No FREE migration
Podia
- $79 or $39 (- *)
- No transaction fees
- No Free Plan
- Instant Payout
- No Multiple Admin/Author
- Unlimited courses & students
- Digital Downloads
- Email marketing
- 24/7 support (live chat + email)
- Memberships*
- Blog*
- Embedded Checkout*
- Affiliate marketing*
- Third-Party Code*
- FREE migration*
Thinkific
- $99/month for Pro
- No transaction fees
- Free plan (limited)
- Instant Payout
- Multiple Admin Support (2 site + 5 Author)
- Unlimited courses & students
- Digital Downloads
- No Email Marketing
- 24/7 support (email+phone)
- Memberships & Bundles
- No Blog
- No Embedded Checkout
- Affiliate marketing
- Third-Party Code
- No FREE migration
Based on this, it’s clear the differences between Teachable, Podia and Thinkific.
- Podia is designed to be an all in one marketing suite for a digital marketer & online creator. From running a blog, digital downloads, courses & memberships, you can do it all in a simple easy to use platform and not have to waste time making different tools like Clickfunnels & Teachable work together.
- Thinkific on the other hand is the most team friendly service, their business plan allows 100 admins on the platform. Podia doesn’t scale for a big company, hence Thinkific is a better choice for startups.
- Teachable is just a course platform, best suited for someone who just wants to host a courses and doesn’t mind paying extra to have to easily integrate with their existing business.
Click Here To Try Podia Free For 14-days
Podia vs Teachable
Podia vs Teachable Pricing
Teachable is available in 4 different plans:
- Free – Test-drive Teachable’s core feature set for free.
- BASIC $39/Month – Great to Create your first online course
- Professional $99/Month – Teachable’s most popular plan
- Business $499/Month – Most comprehensive plan of Teachable
However, Teachable has platform fees on your courses if you are on the base or free plan.
- Free: 10% + $1
- Basic: 5%
Podia on the other hand has much simpler pricing!
- Mover ($39/month) – Your own storefront, Online courses, Digital downloads, Email marketing, Messaging, Zero transaction fees, Unlimited everything, and 24/7 support.
- Shaker ($79/month) – Everything in Mover + Memberships, Blog, Embedded Checkout, Affiliate marketing, Third-Party Code and FREE migrations.
In terms of Pricing Podia is easily a winner, transaction fees are a massive deal breaker, and the Teachable platform is big on selling you up sells to just make you buy more things.
Winner: Podia
Podia vs Teachable Features
In terms of running a course, Podia and Teachable are pretty much on par. However both platforms has a few downsides here.
- Podia doesn’t have student progress
- Teachable only has 1 default theme
- Podia doesn’t allow multiple instructors on a course
But in terms of overall features Podia is the clear winner, you can get the power of over 5 tools for the price of 1.
Teachable it literally just a course platform, you have to combine many other services like Clickfunnels for your landing pages, Mailerlite for your drip campaigns, to make your campaign successful.
You can’t use Teachable to run membership sites which is a feature Podia easily lets you do.
Podia is an all in one marketing platform.
- Online Courses
- Digital Downloads
- Storefront
- Email Marketing
- Messaging (Live Chat)
- Memberships
- A Blog Platform
Now, lets see how much that would cost to have all of that without Podia.
- Online Courses – Teachable @ $99/Month
- Digital Downloads – Gumroad @ $10/month
- Storefront – Clickfunnels @ $97/Month
- Email Marketing – Convertkit @ $29/month for 1K subscribes
- Messaging (Live Chat) – Drift @ $50/month
- Memberships – Gumroad
- A Blog Platform – WordPress site @ $35/Month for Managed Hosting
- Total = $300+/ Month 😱
Now you may not use all the features, if in reality if you’re doing even more than one of the things, it’s already cheaper to use Podia vs signing up for each of the tools individually.
In fact it costs more just to get Teachable (without the transaction fees) than it is to get the top plan of Podia.
Teachable also has some pretty crappy support. Podia on the other hand has 24/7 live support and help you in the entire process of selling your courses.
Winner: Podia
Click Here To Try Podia Free For 14-days
Podia vs Thinkific
Podia vs Thinkific Pricing
Thinkific is available in 4 different plans:
- Free – Test-drive Thinkific’s core feature set for free.
- BASIC – Start your course creation experience with the basic features and tools you need to launch your first course.
- Pro – For course creators ready to build a successful online course business, a complete suite of tools to create an amazing student experience
- PREMIER – For advanced customers ready to build an education empire, get all the Thinkific features + the Growth package. Designed for delivering online education at scale. No limitations – one flat fee.
The Pro Plan @ $99/ Month is best for startups just getting things going, while existing large organizations are better off going with the Premier Plan.
One place where Thinkific is a standout is the fact that their base plan has No Transaction fee just like Podia.
In these terms Thinkific is actually better in terms of pricing as a course platform, but Podia wins as the all in one marketing suite.
Winner: Thinkific
Click Here To Try Thinkfic For Free
Podia vs Thinkific Features
Thinkific is best suited for a much different audience than Podia. Podia is best suited for a non technical solopreneur or team who just want to focus on creating.
- Podia isn’t suited for teams to work on
- Podia doesn’t allow multiple instructors on a course
- Podia doesn’t have student progress
Thinkific has much more advanced features that make it better for large organizations, it’s hard to work with Podia when more than 3 people are involved, in Thinkific more than 10 people can collaborate and get things done efficiently.
If you’re just looking for a powerful course platform that will integrate with your existing business, then Thinkific is definitely the best one out there.
But as an all in one platform, Podia has a ton more features making it the winner.
Winner: Podia
Click Here To Try Podia Free For 14-days
Teachable vs Thinkific
Teachable vs Thinkific Pricing
Teachable and Thinkific are both evenly priced however at the same price, Thinkific offers no transaction fees while Teachable has fees in their free as well as base plan.
Winner: Thinkific
Teachable vs Thinkific Features
Teachable is very similar to Thinkific in terms of price, however it doesn’t have the features many large organizations will need.
- Teachable only has 1 default theme
- Their support isn’t the best
Teachable also has its own payment setup called “Teachable payment” and you can only receive your payments instantly if you use their payment methods, else you have to wait 30 days to receive payments over Paypal.
Winner: Thinkific
Click Here To Try Thinkfic For Free
Verdict: Podia vs Teachable vs Thinkific
So, based on everything its clear why I made my suggestion at the start of this article.
- If you are a solo creator launching courses go for Podia its the best for solo entrepreneurs with maybe a VA or 2.
- If you are a company or startup go with Thinkific its the easiest to work on as a team.
- Skip Teachable 😉 and pick one of my Teachable Alternatives
There’s no real winner between Podia, Teachable and Thinkific, but there is a clear loser and that’s Teachable. Podia is great for solo creators who want an all in one platform, while Thinkific is the better overall course platform.
Click Here To Try Podia Free For 14-days
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