online teaching platform

Teachable Review: Build and Sell an Online Course Easily

Teachable is a platform for businesses, educators, and entrepreneurs who want to design and sell online courses and memberships. This learning management system provides a robust, easy-to-manipulate framework, built-in payment processing, and unlimited courses. 

In our Teachable review, we’ll cover the major pros, cons, features, and pricing schedule, so you can make an informed decision about your next – or first – online course platform. 

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Source: Teachable

Teachable Overview

Teachable was officially founded in 2014 as an alternative for educators and instructors who wanted a more efficient way to teach students. Since then, they’ve grown into a simple – yet robust – platform to build, nurture, and educate your digital audience with tools like:

  • Premade templates and a code-based Power Editor for course customization
  • A native email system for marketing and communication
  • Mixed media capabilities 
  • Affiliate marketing partnerships

Of course, Teachable isn’t just for educators – it’s a place for students to learn, too. And you can provide it to them at a handsome price with flexible bundling and pricing tools such as course packages, coupons, and even free courses. Plus, if you want to build a full-fledged membership site, you can do that, too, with their built-in web hosting abilities.

Teachable Pros

  • Built-in payment processing eliminates the need for third-party integrations
  • Native marketing features, including email marketing and landing pages
  • Course completion certificates included on higher pricing tiers
  • Plenty of subscription, membership, and bundled packages

Teachable Cons

  • Fewer customization options than many competitors
  • The “free” plan comes with a $1 plus 10% transaction fee
  • No course marketplace to natively market your product
  • No customer support by phone
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Source: Teachable

Teachable Review: Main Features and Benefits

Every platform has its own strengths and weaknesses; and the same is true of Teachable. 

Easy-to-Use Course Builder

One of the main selling points of Teachable is its simple course builder. While beginners will have a small learning curve in getting set up, once you’ve learned the layout, the editor itself is easy and intuitive. 

You can upload content, arrange your course and sales pages, and add a splash of color with the drag-and-drop editor. (That said, you’ll only get to pick from three basic design templates – so choose wisely!) 

And if you know CSS or HTML, you can take advantage of Teachable’s Power Editor to make your course your own. 

Essential Media Options

When it comes to teaching online, the ability to upload and download a variety of media formats is crucial. Teachable supports media options like:

  • Videos
  • PDFs
  • Audio files
  • Images
  • And of course, text

Additionally, you can engage with your students by providing quizzes to test their knowledge. And with completion certificate capabilities, your students will feel as accomplished leaving your course as you do creating it!

Built-in Payment Processing and Multicurrency Support

Teachable provides built-in Stripe and PayPal payment gateways for your students to use. Additionally, they accept more than 130 global currencies, so you can reach your students no matter where they are – or what their money looks like. 

Student Interaction and Learning Experience

Student interaction is crucial to a productive educational experience. With Teachable’s discussion and comments sections, you can provide an extra layer of peer-to-peer and peer-to-educator access. 

In addition to promoting learning, you’ll also make yourself more readily available to your students – a crucial component of a positive learner-educator relationship. 

Uniquely, Teachable educators can also run their own blog right from their admin page. If you need to provide extra information for your students or just introduce yourself with a quick “About Me,” this is the place to do it!

Data Tracking

Data analysis is crucial in the online age, and while Teachable’s dashboard system is simple, it’s also comprehensive. You can keep track of insights such as membership and package sales, total transactions and upsells, and of course, student grades and course completions. 

Flexible Pricing Packages

Like other learning management systems out there, Teachable provides instructors with the flexibility to bundle and price your courses. For example, you can launch single lessons or bundled packages, offer coupon codes, and take payments right from the integrated payment system. 

Moreover, with Teachable’s coaching option – available to all paid plans – solo entrepreneurs can offer 1:1 services. Whether you need to use this to promote student-teacher conferences or paid instruction time, it’s an opportunity for you to give your subscribers the tools they need to succeed. 

Third-Party Integrations 

Teachable integrates with a number of third-party systems to build out functionality they don’t offer in-house. While their Zapier partnership makes virtually any third-party integration accessible, they also provide direct linking to over 200 services, including:

  • Payment processors like Square and PayPal
  • Email marketing services like MailChimp ConvertKit
  • Sales funnel builders such as ClickFunnels and Drip

You can even integrate with Zoom for your coaching sessions!

Marketing Tools

In addition to building your educational ecosystem, you can also take advantage of Teachable’s native marketing tools. For example, their affiliate marketing program takes a small chunk off the top – but removes the legwork in dealing with your own affiliates. 

Beyond peer-to-peer marketing, you’ll also enjoy:

  • A single checkout page to reduce cart abandonment
  • Customized upsells and “order bumps”
  • Embeddable thank-you videos
  • Individual landing pages to boost sales and conversions
  • Drip content to “tease” your audience
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Source: Teachable

Teachable Review: Drawbacks

But it’s not all sunshine and rainbows at Teachable. While many small-time educators and enterprise-sized school districts will benefit from their simple-yet-comprehensive approach, it’s not suitable for everyone

Transaction Fees

Teachable’s transaction fees provide one of the biggest sources of frustration for users who opt for the lower-end pricing plans. And while you can eliminate Teachable’s transaction fees on more expensive plans, third-party processors may charge their own fees in lieu of Teachable’s. 

Delayed Payouts 

One drawback of Teachable’s platform is delayed payment processing on their lower-tier pricing plans – potentially up to 30 days. That said, they do manage paying your affiliates for you, which may make the delays worth your while. 

No White Labeling

When you remove white labeling, you remove the watermark that software and online platforms apply to your products to promote themselves. Unfortunately, Teachable doesn’t provide a way to remove all white labeling – even if you link to your own domain name. 

Limited Site Builder, Customizations, and Testing Tools

While Teachable’s site builder is functional, it’s not top-of-the-line. If you truly want to stand out using their platform, you’ll need to keep it simple – or learn to code. 

This lack of customization extends to their sales funnels and marketing pages, too, as many of the layouts and color schemes are identifiable as a Teachable product to a seasoned eye. 

You’ll also want to beware Teachable’s limited tools if you require advanced testing methods. While quizzes and live discussions are readily available, full-blown tests, multimedia projects, and complex assignments simply aren’t on the table. 

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Source: Teachable

Teachable Review: Pricing 

Teachable offers four pricing plan tiered by access to features, number of admin-level users, and per-transaction pricing. 

For the Free plan, Teachable educators can enjoy instant payouts, unlimited courses and coaching services, product support, and third-party integrations, among other core features. However, users will also pay $1 plus 10% per transaction. 

If the core features aren’t enough – or if you need cheaper per-transaction pricing, you can upgrade to one of Teachable’s other plans:

  • Basic: $29 per month plus 5% fee per transaction for 2 admin-level users
  • Pro: $99 per month and no transaction fees for 5 admin-level users
  • Business: $249 per month and no transaction fees for 20 admin-level users

Teachable Review: Customer Service

Teachable offers multiple ways to troubleshoot problems, starting with their extensive Knowledge Base. But if you need a human touch, you can reach out via their live chat support (for Professional users). You can also submit a support ticket or access their onboarding emails at any time. 

Teachable Alternatives

Teachable focuses on providing students with an ideal learning experience. But unfortunately, the platform ties your hands in terms of design and functionality. For some educators, that is where these Teachable alternatives come in handy. 

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Source: Thinkific 

Thinkific

Thinkific is an online learning platform that caters primarily to edupreneurs, small businesses, and solo experts. With this learning management platform, you can build your website and your courses from the ground-up using templates, a drag-and-drop editor, or HTML and CSS coding. 

Additionally, the platform offers tools like:

  • A free Basic plan
  • Marketing and selling features
  • Community and group discussions
  • A dozen types of media inserts and uploads
  • Instant access to your money
  • Custom branding for both your website and courses

Not to mention, most features that Thinkific doesn’t provide itself can be added via their host of third-party integrations. 

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Source: Kajabi

Kajabi

Kajabi is a full-service online learning platform for businesses and educators that want to market the ever-loving heck out of their products. Although platforms like Teachable and Thinkific are more well-known, Kajabi users enjoy a one-stop shop for features like:

  • Dynamic, predesigned templates for websites and courses
  • Drag-and-drop editor
  • Payment integrations like Stripe and PayPal
  • Built-in analytics to track progress and identify shortcomings
  • Personalized email marketing

Plus, the presence of funnels, marketing campaigns, and SEO tools makes it easy to blast your educational opportunities into the stratosphere. And if you want to host live events, Kajabi lets you do that, too!

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Source: Udemy

Udemy

Udemy aims to make it easy for educators to sell online courses without struggling with coding, too. Although it’s more limited in scope – for instance, you can’t implement your own website or branding – it’s an excellent steppingstone for beginners. 

Plus, Udemy provides all the tools you need to learn the e-learning space, including:

  • Marketing tools
  • Instant course publication
  • Custom pricing
  • Access to 40 million students in over 180 countries

And unlike some learning management platforms, Udemy won’t leave you high and dry. You’ll always have access to their Instructor Support Team, Teaching Center, and of course, their active online community.

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Source: Teachable

Teachable: Beginner Friendly and Built to Scale

Teachable is the ideal learning management system if you want to sell online courses with limited technical knowledge and a small budget. While you’ll have to play around with the platform to make the most of your experience, their easy-to-use tools make creating the educational experience a breeze. 

And although Teachable is renowned for its limited customizations, that’s not always a bad thing. In fact, newbies in the field may enjoy getting their start on a platform that doesn’t bog them down in customizations and colors. 

If you need to get your foot in the door – but don’t want to be overwhelmed in the process – Teachable can provide a great place to start. 

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