Course Platform Transaction Fees in 2026: What Teachable, Kajabi, Thinkific, Podia, LearnWorlds & Skool Really Take
The sticker price on a course platform’s pricing page is the number everyone compares. It’s also the number that matters least. The fee that quietly decides whether you keep 90% or 80% of a sale isn’t the monthly subscription — it’s the transaction fee, the slice the platform takes off the top of every payment a student makes. In 2026, those slices range from 0% to 10%, and on a real launch the gap between them can be larger than your entire monthly bill.
This is the post nobody writing “10 best course platforms” listicles bothers to do: the actual math on what each platform takes per sale, and the breakeven point where a “cheaper” plan quietly becomes the expensive one. If you’re choosing a platform — or wondering whether your current fee is costing you more than an upgrade would — this is the number to run before you commit.
Two different fees hide behind the word “fee”
The single most common mistake new creators make is treating “transaction fee” and “payment processing fee” as the same thing. They are not, and conflating them leads to bad platform decisions.
The payment processing fee goes to Stripe or PayPal, not the platform. It’s roughly 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction and you pay it on essentially every platform, including the ones that advertise “0% transaction fees.” A platform cannot make this disappear — it’s the cost of moving money. When a platform says “zero fees,” they mean zero platform fees; the ~3% processor cut still applies.
The transaction fee is the platform’s own cut, charged on top of processing. This is the one that varies wildly and the one worth optimizing. A 7.5% platform fee plus ~3% processing means roughly 10.5% of every sale evaporates before it reaches you. On a $200 course, that’s about $21 gone — per sale.
What each platform actually takes in 2026
Here’s the current landscape on platform transaction fees (the platform’s cut, separate from the ~2.9% + $0.30 processor fee that applies almost everywhere). Pricing shifts, so always confirm on the provider’s page before committing — but as of mid-2026:
| Platform | Cheapest paid plan | Transaction fee on that plan | Fee on higher tiers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Teachable | Starter ~$29/mo (annual) | 7.5% | 0% on Builder & above |
| LearnWorlds | Starter ~$29/mo | $5 flat per enrollment | 0% on Pro Trainer & above |
| Podia | Mover ~$49/mo | 5% | 0% on Shaker & above |
| Skool | Hobby ~$9/mo | 10% (+ $0.30) | ~0% on Pro (small cut on high-ticket) |
| Kajabi | Basic tier | 0% platform fee | 0% across all plans |
| Thinkific | Paid tiers | 0% at all paid tiers | 0% |
Two patterns jump out. First, Kajabi and Thinkific charge no platform transaction fee at any paid tier — you pay only the subscription and the processor. Second, the platforms with the lowest entry prices (Teachable Starter, Podia Mover, Skool Hobby, LearnWorlds Starter) recover that discount through per-sale fees. The cheap plan isn’t cheap; it’s deferred.
The structural difference: percentage vs. flat fee
Most platforms take a percentage, so the fee scales with your price — a 7.5% cut on a $500 course is $37.50, on a $50 course it’s $3.75. LearnWorlds is the outlier: a flat $5 per enrollment regardless of price. That structure punishes low-ticket sellers (a $5 fee on a $19 mini-course is 26%) and rewards high-ticket sellers (a $5 fee on a $499 course is 1%). The fee model has to match your price point, not just your budget. We broke down every LearnWorlds tier in our LearnWorlds pricing guide.
The breakeven math: when a cheaper plan costs you more
This is where the honest analysis lives. For every platform that offers a low-fee-but-cheap plan and a higher-priced 0%-fee plan, there’s a monthly revenue level above which the “expensive” plan is actually cheaper. The formula is simple: divide the price difference between the two plans by the fee rate, and that’s your breakeven in monthly sales.
Teachable: ~$533/month in sales
Teachable Starter is ~$29/mo with a 7.5% fee; Builder is ~$69/mo with 0%. The plans differ by $40/month. To make that $40 worthwhile, your 7.5% fee has to exceed $40 — which happens at $533/month in course sales ($40 ÷ 0.075). Sell more than ~$533/month and Starter’s “savings” have flipped into a loss. Sell less, and Starter genuinely is cheaper.
LearnWorlds: ~14 enrollments/month
LearnWorlds Starter (~$29 + $5/enrollment) vs. Pro Trainer (~$99, no fee) is a $70 gap. At $5 per enrollment, that’s 14 enrollments per month ($70 ÷ $5). Past 14 paid students a month — regardless of price — Pro Trainer wins. Because the fee is flat, this breakeven doesn’t move with your course price, which makes it unusually easy to plan around.
Podia: ~$1,000/month in sales
Podia Mover (~$49, 5% fee) vs. Shaker (~$99, 0%) is a $50 gap. At 5%, breakeven is $1,000/month in sales. Podia’s higher entry price means you can run a fair amount of volume on Mover before the upgrade pays off.
Skool: ~$900/month in sales
Skool Hobby (~$9, 10% fee) vs. Pro (~$99, effectively 0% on standard sales) is a $90 gap. At 10%, breakeven is $900/month. Skool’s 10% Hobby fee is the steepest on this list, so high-volume community sellers cross the line fast. We covered who’s migrating and why in Teachable vs Skool 2026.
How to actually minimize what you give up
The fee that’s right for you depends almost entirely on three things: your price point, your monthly volume, and your stage. Here’s how to reason about it instead of chasing the lowest sticker price.
If you’re pre-launch or doing under ~$500/month: the per-sale fee barely matters — you’re paying a percentage of a small number. Optimize for the cheapest monthly plan and the features you need, even if it carries a transaction fee. A 7.5% fee on $300 of sales is $22.50; not worth paying $40 more a month to avoid.
If you’re consistently above your platform’s breakeven: upgrade to the 0%-fee tier immediately. Every month you stay on the fee-bearing plan past breakeven, you’re donating the difference. Run the division above against your last three months of revenue and decide on the trend, not a single good month.
If you sell high-ticket ($300+): percentage fees hurt disproportionately, so a 0%-fee platform (Kajabi, Thinkific, or an upgraded LearnWorlds/Podia tier) usually wins outright. A flat-fee model like LearnWorlds’ $5/enrollment is especially friendly here.
If you sell low-ticket or run a community: watch flat fees and steep percentages. Skool’s 10% Hobby fee and LearnWorlds’ flat $5 can both eat a brutal share of a $19–$39 product. A modest percentage on a 0%-fee-capable platform often beats both.
One more lever most creators ignore: you can’t avoid the ~2.9% processor fee, but you can reduce its bite by selling fewer, higher-priced transactions rather than many tiny ones — the $0.30 flat component is a much bigger percentage of a $9 sale than a $300 one. Bundling and annual pricing quietly cut your effective fee rate.
The takeaway: run the division before you pick
Transaction fees aren’t a footnote — on a healthy course business they can outrun your subscription cost several times over. The good news is that the decision is arithmetic, not guesswork. Find the price gap between your platform’s fee-bearing plan and its 0%-fee plan, divide by the fee rate, and you have the exact monthly revenue at which you should switch. Below it, embrace the cheap plan. Above it, upgrade without hesitation.
If you’re still mapping out total costs — not just fees but hosting, video, email, and the rest — our breakdown of what it really costs to create an online course in 2026 puts the full picture together. And if you’re weighing two zero-fee all-in-one platforms head to head, Kajabi vs Thinkific 2026 covers the trade-offs beyond price.
Bookmark OnlineClassesClub for weekly, no-fluff course-creator playbooks — we run the math so you don’t hand your margins to a pricing page you didn’t read closely.
Frequently asked questions
Do “0% transaction fee” platforms really cost nothing per sale?
No. “0% transaction fee” means zero platform fee — the payment processor (Stripe or PayPal) still charges roughly 2.9% + $0.30 per sale on virtually every platform. So even a fee-free plan costs you about 3% per transaction. The platform’s claim is true; it just isn’t the whole story.
Which course platforms charge no platform transaction fee in 2026?
As of mid-2026, Kajabi and Thinkific charge 0% platform transaction fees across their paid plans. Teachable, Podia, and LearnWorlds drop to 0% only on their higher tiers, while their cheapest paid plans carry a per-sale fee. Always confirm current pricing on each provider’s site before committing.
Is a flat per-sale fee better than a percentage fee?
It depends on your price point. A flat fee like LearnWorlds’ $5 per enrollment is great for high-ticket courses (it’s only 1% of a $499 sale) but punishing for low-ticket ones (it’s 26% of a $19 sale). A percentage fee scales with price, so it’s more predictable for low-ticket and mixed catalogs.
When should I upgrade to a more expensive, fee-free plan?
Divide the monthly price difference between the two plans by the fee rate. For example, a $40/month gap with a 7.5% fee breaks even at about $533/month in sales. Once your typical monthly revenue is above that line, the fee-free plan is cheaper — upgrade. Below it, the cheaper plan with the fee still wins.
