Teachable vs Thinkific

Teachable to launch; Thinkific to scale. The deciding number is transaction fees.

Teachable is faster to get selling. Setup takes an afternoon, and Teachable Pay acts as merchant of record in many jurisdictions, calculating and remitting EU VAT and US sales tax — a genuine liability removed that Thinkific leaves to your payment processor. For a first course, that convenience is worth real money.

Thinkific charges no transaction fees on any paid plan. Teachable takes a percentage of every sale on its free and entry tiers, disappearing only on Pro. On a course business turning over six figures, that difference is thousands a year, which is why established sellers migrate. Thinkific also builds courses more flexibly — better drip and prerequisite logic, native communities, and a site builder that produces a real website.

Run the arithmetic. Below meaningful revenue, Teachable's tax handling and speed win. Once sales are consistent, model the fee against the subscription saved and Thinkific usually comes out ahead.