5 Teachable alternatives in 2026, compared on fees, caps and API access
Two numbers send people here: the 7.5% on Starter and the 100-student cap. One of them is fixed without moving at all.
Why people leave Teachable
- 7.5% on Starter. On the $39 plan only; Builder and Growth are 0% (teachable.com/pricing). $5,000 of sales costs $375 in fee alone.
- Students are the meter. 100 / 1,000 / 5,000 active, with a separate imported-student allowance of 5 / 50 / 1,000.
- No API below $189. The REST API starts on Growth at 10,000 requests a month, and agent access today is Zapier's two Teachable actions (zapier.com/mcp/teachable).
- Email that does not carry a business. Reviewers call it too basic and report $50 to $200+ a month of bolted-on tools (learningrevolution.net/teachable-review).
The five, in one table
| Platform | From | Cut of your sales | Metered on | Agent access | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teachable (yours) | $39 | 7.5% Starter, then 0% | Active students | Reported basic | REST API from $189 |
| AXL | $49 Starter | 0% | Eight usage meters, same overage rates | Included allowance by plan, then $0.0006 per email | Included on every plan |
| Thinkific | $54 | 0% on Thinkific Payments; 5% down to 0.5% with your own provider where applicable | Feature tier | No nurture sequences reported | Plus only, read-only, rolling out |
| Kajabi | $179 | 0% on Kajabi Payments; 5% down to 0.5% with your own | Contacts, products | Unlimited | Every plan, drafts only |
| Kartra | $59 | 5% Essentials, then 0% | Contacts, 500 → 25,000 | Unlimited from Starter | No first-party MCP |
| Skool | $9 | 10% Hobby / 2.9% Pro | Flat | None reported | No public API found |
What each one is good at
AXL: if an agent should run it
No student tier, no product tier, no API paywall. CRM, courses, funnels, community, webinars and payments on one record, with ~1,100 operations open to your agent. From $49/month, 0% of revenue.
The catch: nothing like BackOffice, so international tax and author payouts stay yours. No SCORM, no learner app we will claim. AXL vs Teachable →
Thinkific: the straight swap
A deeper course product at a similar price, unlimited courses on every tier, and a serious enterprise track above. Basic is $54, Start $109, Grow $219 and Expand $499 a month (thinkific.com/pricing, checked 21 August 2026).
The catch: Basic excludes memberships and certificates; API starts on Grow; MCP is Plus only, read-only and still rolling out.
Kajabi: the established brand
Podcast hosting, branded learner apps, unlimited marketing email on every tier, and an MCP server on every plan. $179 / $249 / $499 (kajabi.com/pricing).
The catch: the highest entry price here, contacts metered from 250, and every agent write lands as a draft.
Kartra: the widest bundle
Pages, checkout, memberships, unlimited email from Starter, video, affiliates and a helpdesk on one bill. $59 / $119 / $229 / $549; Essentials takes 5% (kartra.com/plans-and-pricing).
The catch: contacts become the meter at 500 / 2,500 / 12,500 / 25,000, and “AI uses” run 30 to 250 a month.
Skool: the cheapest sticker
Unlimited members, courses and live calls on both tiers, with a feed and a leaderboard people actually return to. $9 Hobby at 10% or $99 Pro at 2.9% (skool.com/pricing).
The catch: no public API, email marketing or member tagging found (tools4skool.com).
Your reason for leaving, and where it points
| Leaving because… | Pick |
|---|---|
| The 7.5% on Starter | Teachable Builder, $89: it is 0% there. Do not migrate to fix this |
| You crossed the active-student cap | Thinkific or AXL: neither meters students |
| You need an API and cannot pay $189 | AXL: REST API and MCP on every account |
| You want tax and author payouts handled for you | Stay. Teachable BackOffice costs 2% to 2.8%, and nothing else here does this |
| You want the course product to simply be better | Thinkific |
| Community engagement is the real product | Skool |
Where AXL fits, and where it does not
It fits the creator whose Teachable bill is really a stack (course platform, email tool, scheduler, webinar app) with one contact record under all of it.
It does not fit someone who only wants a cheap place to host one course. Builder does that at $89, and switching platforms to save $39 is a bad trade.
Moving off Teachable
- Students and contacts CSV or XLSX, matched on email
- Course structure Rebuilt: an agent’s fastest job
- Completion and quiz results Move nowhere, on any platform
Count imported students separately before comparing bills.
The migration checklist →Is there a free Teachable alternative?
Not among these five. Teachable's own free plan ended, Thinkific replaced its permanent one with a 30-day trial, and Skool's $9 Hobby is the lowest paid entry here. Every free tier we found was a trial with an end date. Know a genuinely free one? Tell us and we will add it.
Try the replacement before you cancel anything.
Import the students and rebuild one course while the old account still runs. Plans start at $49 a month, with included usage and published overage rates.
Also weighing something else? Kajabi alternatives · Thinkific alternatives
Competitor pricing is verified against each vendor's own page. We re-check quarterly. Spot an error? Tell us and we will fix it within a week.