Comparison — from the record, 2026-08-29
Teachable vs Systeme.io: the fee matters more than the price
OUR PICK
Our pick: Systeme.io — Teachable's cheapest plan is the one that quietly costs the most.
Teachable's Starter plan is $39 a month and carries a 7.5% transaction fee, by Teachable's own plan description. The fee disappears on Builder, which is $89. Systeme.io's Startup plan is $17 with 0% transaction fees, and Systeme.io states 0% on every plan including the free one. Sell $2,000 of courses in a month on Teachable Starter and the fee alone is $150 — more than four months of Systeme.io.
The other way: Pick Teachable if you want the polished product and will start on Builder rather than Starter. At $89 with no transaction fee, ten products, iOS and Android student apps, global payments and tax handling, upsells and cart recovery, it is a more complete commerce product than Systeme.io — and the fee trap disappears.
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How to read this page: every number below was read from the vendor’s own public pricing page on the date shown, and the pages are re-checked daily. Currencies differ because that is what each vendor showed an EU visitor. Some links on this page are affiliate links — if you subscribe through one we earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. Per
our method, that never changes a number or a verdict. Source links always point to the vendor’s plain page.
The two pricing pages, side by side
Teachable — USD, read 2026-08-29
Prices as this vendor showed them to a visitor in the United States — USD. A reader elsewhere may be quoted a different figure — we publish what we were served, never a conversion.
| Plan | Price | Contacts | What the page says |
|---|
| Starter | $39/mo | | |
| Builder | $89/mo | | |
| Growth | $189/mo | | |
Source: https://teachable.com/pricing · read 2026-08-29 (UTC) · Three published tiers, and unusually the page shows both billing figures on the same card — the monthly rate and the annual equivalent with 'Billed annually' beneath it — so nothing has to be clicked to compare them. Annual saves 25.6% on Starter, 22.5% on Builder and 26.5% on Growth, and the page advertises no single headline percentage, which is consistent with the savings differing by tier. Read in a browser on the date shown above with the billing switch clicked.
Teachable quotes USD worldwide — identical figures from our United States, United Kingdom and EU readers, read 2026-08-29.
Systeme.io — USD, read 2026-08-25
Prices as this vendor showed them to a visitor in the EU — USD. A reader elsewhere may be quoted a different figure — we publish what we were served, never a conversion.
| Plan | Price | Contacts | What the page says |
|---|
| Free | Free | 2,000 | 3 funnels, 1 automation rule, 1 custom domain, 1 email campaign, unlimited email sends |
| Startup | $17/mo | 5,000 | 10 funnels, 10 automation rules, 3 custom domains, 10 email campaigns, unlimited sends |
| Webinar | $47/mo | 10,000 | 50 funnels, 100 automation rules, 10 custom domains, evergreen webinars, unlimited sends |
| Unlimited | $97/mo | Unlimited | Unlimited funnels, rules, domains, campaigns; early feature access |
Source: https://systeme.io/pricing · read 2026-08-25 (UTC) · Monthly billing view; annual gives 2 months free. Prices are flat per tier (not per-contact sliders).
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What the record says
Most comparisons of these two stop at the monthly price, which is the least interesting number on either page. Teachable Starter is $39 a month, Systeme.io Startup is $17, and if that were the whole story this would be a short article. The story is in Teachable's own plan description, which states a 7.5% transaction fee on Starter — and 0% on Builder above it.
Work that through with real numbers. A course earning $1,000 a month costs $39 plus $75 in fees on Teachable Starter: $114. The same month on Systeme.io Startup costs $17, because Systeme.io states 0% transaction fees on all plans, free included. At $2,000 of monthly sales the Teachable Starter total is $189 against Systeme.io's $17. The subscription gap is $22; the fee gap is what actually decides it.
The honest counter is that Teachable's fee vanishes one plan up. Builder is $89 a month with a 0% transaction fee, ten products, and a feature list Systeme.io does not match: iOS and Android student apps, global payments and tax handling, upsells and cart recovery, course certificates. If you are going to sell seriously on Teachable, Builder is the plan the pricing page is quietly steering you toward, and comparing Systeme.io against Builder is a fairer fight than comparing it against Starter.
What you give up going to Systeme.io is polish and specialisation. What you gain is scope: the $17 plan carries 5,000 contacts, unlimited sales funnels, five courses, unlimited students and unlimited email sends, which means the email tool and the funnel builder you would otherwise buy separately are already included. Systeme.io is not trying to be the best course platform. It is trying to be the only subscription you need, and at $17 it has room to be imperfect.
Beyond the price tag
Transaction fees, the line that decides it
Teachable's plan descriptions state a 7.5% transaction fee on Starter, and 0% on Builder and Growth. Systeme.io states 0% on every plan, including free. On any course with meaningful sales, this outweighs the subscription difference — which is why we lead with it rather than burying it in a feature table.
What each entry plan carries
Teachable Starter: 5 products, Create with AI, iOS and Android student apps, global payments and taxes, upsells and cart recovery, course certificates — with the 7.5% fee attached. Systeme.io Startup: 5,000 contacts, unlimited funnels, 5 courses, unlimited students, unlimited email sends, no fee.
Annual billing
Teachable's yearly billing is 22% off: Starter falls from $39 to $29 a month, Builder from $89 to $69, Growth from $189 to $139, saving $120, $240 and $600 a year respectively. Those are Teachable's own figures from its pricing page.
Same price everywhere
We read both pricing pages from the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany. Both vendors quoted US dollars to all three. That is worth knowing because several competitors in this category do not — a euro or sterling price you find elsewhere is not comparable to these.
Questions people actually search
Does Teachable really take 7.5% of sales?
On the Starter plan, that is what its own plan description states. The description for Builder and Growth states 0%. So the fee is a property of the cheapest plan rather than of Teachable as a whole — which is exactly why the cheapest plan is often the wrong one to pick there.
At what point does Teachable Builder beat Systeme.io on cost?
It doesn't, on subscription alone: $89 against $17 is a gap no fee saving closes, since Systeme.io charges 0% too. Builder wins when you want what it includes — student mobile apps, tax handling, cart recovery — not when you want to spend less. Between Teachable's own plans, though, Builder overtakes Starter as soon as monthly sales pass roughly $667, where the 7.5% fee exceeds the $50 price difference.
Is Systeme.io's free plan enough to launch a course?
To launch one, yes: it includes 2,000 contacts, three funnels, one course, one affiliate programme, a custom domain, unlimited email sends and no transaction fee. The limit that bites first is 500 students. Teachable has no permanently free tier for selling; it offers a 7-day free trial.
Which is better if I only care about the teaching experience?
Teachable, and it isn't close. Course certificates, native student apps on iOS and Android, and a decade of work on how a course actually feels to take are not things Systeme.io competes on. Systeme.io's courses are one feature inside a marketing platform. If your students' experience is the product, pay for the product built around it.
THE VERDICT, ONE MORE TIME
Our pick: Systeme.io — Teachable's cheapest plan is the one that quietly costs the most.
Teachable's Starter plan is $39 a month and carries a 7.5% transaction fee, by Teachable's own plan description. The fee disappears on Builder, which is $89. Systeme.io's Startup plan is $17 with 0% transaction fees, and Systeme.io states 0% on every plan including the free one. Sell $2,000 of courses in a month on Teachable Starter and the fee alone is $150 — more than four months of Systeme.io.
Try Systeme.io free →
Every figure above was read from each vendor's own pricing page in a browser on the dates shown beside each table, from United States, United Kingdom and German addresses in turn. Transaction-fee percentages and plan contents are quoted from the vendors' own plan descriptions as published on those pages. The worked examples are arithmetic on those published figures, not estimates; they assume all sales run through the platform's own checkout. The method →
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