Teachable fees explained for 2026

Teachable charges a 7.5% transaction fee on its Starter plan and 0% on Builder, Growth and Custom — but a 0% plan is not a free sale, because Teachable Pay's processing fee of 2.9% + $0.30 on a US card is charged on all four. This guide sets the schedule out as Teachable publishes it, with every figure computed by the same engine as the Teachable fee calculator. The rates are quoted from Teachable's pricing page, cross-checked against its Teachable Pay help article, and were verified on 4 September 2026.

What each plan charges per sale

The transaction fee is the only line that moves with the plan, and Teachable charges it on "total transaction value (product price including taxes)". The 0% on the upper three assumes you use Teachable Pay or the Monthly Payment Gateway.

On a $199 course sold on Starter, paid by card, the fee on $199.00 is $21.00 ($14.93 starter plan transaction fee plus $6.07 payment processing fee — US card) and you keep $178.00, an effective rate of 10.55%. On the same sale on Builder, the fee on $199.00 is $6.07 and you keep $192.93, an effective rate of 3.05%.

The difference between those two lines — one sale, same price, same card — is the whole argument for the higher plans.

The transaction fee is uncapped, so it scales

Nothing limits the 7.5%, so what looks like a small difference on a cheap course becomes the dominant cost on an expensive one.

On a $1,000 course on Starter, the fee on $1,000.00 is $104.30 ($75.00 starter plan transaction fee plus $29.30 payment processing fee — US card) and you keep $895.70, an effective rate of 10.43%. On the same $1,000 course on Builder, the fee on $1,000.00 is $29.30 and you keep $970.70, an effective rate of 2.93%.

One $1,000 sale carries $75.00 of transaction fee on Starter and none above it. Where the crossover sits depends on what a plan costs per month, which is a subscription rather than a per-sale fee: no rule states it, so this calculator never deducts it and you have to weigh the fixed cost against your own volume.

How the student pays changes the bill too

Teachable Pay publishes two rates, and PayPal is the dearer of them on both parts.

On a $199 sale on Starter paid by PayPal, the fee on $199.00 is $22.37 ($14.93 starter plan transaction fee plus $7.44 payment processing fee — US PayPal) and you keep $176.63, an effective rate of 11.24%. On the same sale on Builder paid by PayPal, the fee on $199.00 is $7.44 and you keep $191.56, an effective rate of 3.74%.

The gap is $1.37 on a $199 sale — small next to the plan difference, but it is charged on every plan alike, which is exactly the point the "0% transaction fees" headline can obscure.

Pricing a course to a target payout

To keep $199.00 you charge $222.43, and the fee is $23.43. To keep $199.00 you charge $205.25, and the fee is $6.25.

Adding 7.5% to what you want to keep lands short, because the fee is charged on the higher price as well.

What this guide leaves out

Plan subscription prices, as above. Also outside it: currencies other than US dollars and students outside the United States, the custom gateway options some schools use instead of Teachable Pay, affiliate payouts, refunds and chargebacks, and taxes — which Teachable includes in the base its transaction fee is charged on but does not state a rate for.

When these rates last changed

Teachable's pricing page carries no effective date, so every rate is dated from the day it was verified: 4 September 2026. The Teachable fee changelog holds that single entry, later changes are added there against the rule they affect, and the schedule is re-checked at least every 60 days.

Confidence is high. One wrinkle is worth naming: the Teachable Pay help article groups the fee-free tiers as "Builder, Growth, Advanced, Business" while the current pricing page names them "Builder, Growth, Custom", which reads as an older tier name in the help article. Every rate the two pages both state agrees exactly.

Frequently asked questions

Does Teachable take 7.5% of everything?

Only on Starter. Builder, Growth and Custom carry no transaction fee at all — but every plan carries Teachable Pay's processing fee, so no plan makes a sale free.

Is the transaction fee charged on tax?

Teachable states the Starter fee as "7.5% of total transaction value (product price including taxes)", so yes, where tax is added to the price.

How does Teachable compare with other course and creator platforms?

The Kajabi fee calculator prices a platform with no commission at all, where the whole bill is processing, and the Gumroad fee calculator prices a flat cut with processing bundled in. Teachable is the one of the three where your plan, not the product, decides the rate.

Where do these numbers come from?

Every rate is quoted from Teachable's own pages, saved as dated snapshots and checked by a person. The methodology explains the check, the schedule is quoted line by line in the calculator's fee table, and if a figure here disagrees with what Teachable shows you, report it.