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CompareVerified 2026-11-07

MemberPad vs Podia

Podia is a genuinely pleasant place to sell courses, downloads and coaching, with a website builder and email included and nothing complicated about it. MemberPad is built for the membership rather than the storefront, and adds podcasts, live video and mobile apps Podia does not have.

The short version

Choose Podia if

  • You want one calm product that does selling, a website and a blog. Podia covers all three in a way MemberPad does not attempt, and it is the least intimidating platform in this comparison.2
  • Your revenue is well past a thousand a month and you want the fee gone. On the Shaker and Earthquaker plans Podia takes nothing per transaction beyond what the payment processor charges.1
  • You sell coaching and run workshops. Podia has coaching as a product type and events covering webinars, workshops and in person meetups, which MemberPad handles less directly.2
  • You want thirty days to try it without handing over a card. Podia’s trial is the longest and least demanding here.1

It is a tie on

  • Both put courses and a community in the same product rather than asking you to buy two, and both include a public page that sells the thing.2
  • Both sell digital downloads, run an affiliate program, and support memberships alongside one time purchases of a single item.2
  • Both have native chat for members, and both let the whole operation sit on a domain you own rather than a shared address.2

Choose MemberPad if

  • Your list is bigger than a thousand people. Podia caps email subscribers at 100 on Mover, 500 on Shaker and 1,000 on Earthquaker, which is the tightest limit anywhere in this comparison.1
  • Your members are on phones. Podia names no mobile app for members or for you, and MemberPad ships iPhone, Android, Windows and macOS applications.2
  • You want live video and podcasts. Podia has neither, leaning on Zoom, Meet or YouTube Live for events, and MemberPad hosts audio with private feeds and carries live itself.2
  • You are not earning $42 a month yet. Podia’s cheapest plan costs that monthly and still takes 5% on top, where MemberPad charges nothing until money moves.1

At a glance

One row per category. The full table, with every row and every source, is further down.

The eight categories at a glance. Every row here also appears in the full table below.
CapabilityPodiaMemberPad
Real time chatThe difference between a forum people check weekly and a room they sit in.YesChat is built directly into the platform2YesLive rooms with typing and presence, free on every community6
Build courses inside the platformA course hosted somewhere else is a second login and a second bill.YesOnline courses are one of the core product types2YesCourses, modules and lessons, with video uploaded here or linked from YouTube6
Private member only podcast feedA private feed puts your paid show in the app people already listen in.NoNo RSS feed, so a show needs a separate host2YesAn RSS feed unique to each member, authenticated per person6
Broadcast to an audienceOne to many video, where the audience watches rather than joins.DifferentEvents run on Zoom, Meet or YouTube Live rather than Podia2YesAny audience size, but the community needs one paid tier6
What the platform takesThe number that decides how much of every membership actually reaches you.YesZero transaction fee on Shaker and Earthquaker plans1Different9% of what a member pays, and nothing at all before that5
Desktop appA window that stays open is very different from a tab that gets closed.NoNo desktop application of any kind is offered2YesWindows and macOS installers that update themselves7
On demand video libraryA back catalog people can browse is worth more than the same videos buried in a feed.PartialVideo caps at 500 on Mover and 1,000 on Shaker1YesUploads or YouTube links, browsable, with progress, bookmarks and comments6
Start without paying anythingWhat you owe in the months before the community is earning anything at all.No$42 a month on Mover, after a 30 day trial1YesNothing. There is no MemberPad subscription to buy5

What each one costs

Podia prints its own transaction fee and the payment processor’s separately, which is the honest way to do it and rarer than it should be. Mover takes 5%, and the two plans above it take nothing beyond what Stripe or PayPal charge.1

Against the Mover plan the two cost the same at roughly $1,050 a month in member revenue. Below that MemberPad is cheaper because the $42 is due whether or not anything sold, and above it Podia pulls ahead and keeps going.3

The caps are the real pricing story here and they are easy to miss. A creator on Mover at $42 a month can have 50 products and exactly 100 email subscribers, which for most people running a membership is a wall long before it is a plan.1

Podia Mover

$42/moplus 5% of each sale

  • Billed annually, $504 a year
  • 50 products, 500 videos
  • Up to 100 email subscribers

Podia Shaker

$84/mo

  • Billed annually, $1,008 a year
  • 150 products, 1,000 videos
  • Up to 500 email subscribers, 1 assistant

Podia Earthquaker

$150/mo

  • Billed annually, $1,800 a year
  • Unlimited products and videos
  • Up to 1,000 email subscribers

MemberPad

$0/moplus 9% of each sale

  • No plans and no tiers
  • Uncapped products and members
  • 5,000 email sends a month

What each one takes on top

Where a percentage is shown above, Podia charges it on top of card processing, which Stripe bills separately, so what a sale really costs is the two added together. MemberPad takes 9% of what a member actually pays you, and card processing sits on top of ours as well, billed by Stripe on your own account. There is one plan, nothing is held back behind a higher one, and a month where nobody pays you costs nothing.

From about $933 a month, Podia Shaker costs less than MemberPad. Below that we are cheaper, mostly because there is no monthly bill to pay in a quiet month.

  • Mover overtakes us at about $1,050 a month
  • Shaker overtakes us at about $933 a month
  • Earthquaker overtakes us at about $1,667 a month

Community

A real community product, attached to a shop

Podia includes a community with chat built in rather than integrated, which puts it ahead of every course platform that treats community as an afterthought. For a storefront product this is more than most competitors bother with.2

The limit is the team around it. Below the top plan you get one assistant, so the person moderating, answering and posting is almost always you, and that ceiling arrives well before a busy community does.1

MemberPad puts the room first. Chat rooms grouped into sections with presence and typing, member profiles, follows, private notes and celebrations, with no cap on admins because there is no plan for a cap to sit on.

Courses

Courses that sell well, without much to check afterwards

Online courses are one of Podia’s original products and the selling side is well handled, with a store, a checkout, coupons and affiliates all in the same place. For a straightforward course business that is most of what you need.2

The assessment side is better than it first looks. Quiz lessons, course completion certificates and drip content that releases sections on a schedule are all named, which puts Podia ahead of Circle and Mighty Networks on exactly the rows those two leave silent.1

What MemberPad adds on top is the marking. Quizzes here hold the next lesson shut until a member passes rather than simply scoring them, assignments come back to a creator to approve or send back, and a release rule can count days from when each member started rather than only from a fixed date. Video is also capped per Podia plan at 500 or 1,000 rather than being uncounted.

Podcasting

Nothing here, on a platform that covers a lot of ground

Podia names courses, community, email, downloads, coaching, events, a website, a store, a blog, chat, analytics and affiliates. It does not name podcasts anywhere, which for a product this broad is a real gap rather than deliberate restraint.2

So audio has to live with a separate podcast host, and cannot be part of what a Podia membership actually buys somebody. The best available approximation is selling a download, which nobody listens to on a commute.2

MemberPad hosts the audio and issues each member their own authenticated RSS feed, so a paid show appears in the podcast app they already use alongside everything else they subscribe to.

Live

Podia schedules the event, somebody else runs it

Podia events cover webinars, workshops and in person meetups as a product you can sell, which is genuinely useful and better structured than what MemberPad offers for a paid workshop.2

The video itself runs on Zoom, Google Meet or YouTube Live. That means no metering, no limits and no cost, and it also means the session happens outside your community and the recording is your problem.2

MemberPad carries live video itself across broadcasts, two way rooms and audio rooms, saving replays into the library automatically, in exchange for a metered minute pool and a requirement that the community has at least one paid tier.

Money

Zero percent sounds better than the caps read

Podia prints its transaction fee and the processor’s fee separately, which is more honest than most pricing pages here. Mover takes 5%, and Shaker and Earthquaker take nothing at all beyond what Stripe or PayPal charge.1

The crossover against Mover sits near $1,050 a month, and against Shaker it is lower still. If your revenue is stable and comfortably past that, Podia costs you less and the zero percent plans are genuinely attractive.3

What the fee does not tell you is where the plan runs out. One hundred email subscribers on Mover, five hundred on Shaker, a thousand on Earthquaker at $150 a month. Those are the lowest email caps in this comparison by a wide margin.1

Access

The web, and only the web

Podia names no mobile app for members and none for creators, so everything happens in a browser. For a store that people visit, buy from and leave, that is completely fine and nobody notices.2

For a membership people are meant to return to daily it is a harder problem, because no app means no push notification and no icon on a home screen. MemberPad ships iPhone, Android, Windows and macOS applications.

No app also means no push notification, which is the part that bites. Every reminder has to travel by email, and email is the channel members have already learned to ignore, so a membership that depends on people coming back regularly is working against itself.

Content

A website and a shop, against places inside a membership

Podia is ahead on the public side. A website builder, an online store and a blog on the same domain are more than MemberPad offers, and for a creator who wants one address holding everything that is a real advantage.2

Inside the membership it reverses. MemberPad has a video library with progress and bookmarks, a file library, photo albums, notebooks, polls and events with timezones, and Podia’s video is capped per plan.

That split is worth taking seriously rather than treating as a score. If most of your visitors are strangers deciding whether to buy, Podia has invested where it counts. If most of them are members who already did, the investment is on our side of the line.

Value

Pick by the size of your list, not the size of the fee

These two are close enough on price that the decision should be made somewhere else, and for most people the deciding number is the email cap. A creator with two thousand people on a list cannot use Podia at any plan it publishes.1

If your list is small, your revenue is steady, and what you want is a tidy shop with a website and a blog attached, Podia is a pleasant product and its zero percent plans will cost you less than we do.2

If you want members on phones, a podcast behind the paywall, live sessions the platform actually carries, or a list that can grow without hitting a plan wall, that is the case for MemberPad here.

Everything we checked

Every row carries a note rather than a tick, and every claim about Podia links to the page it came from.

Podia and MemberPad compared. Every claim about Podia is sourced, and was last checked on 2026-11-07.
CapabilityPodiaMemberPad
Community Whether people actually talk to each other, and what happens when the room gets busy.
Separate spaces for separate topicsOne undifferentiated feed is where a growing community starts to feel noisy.YesA community product with its own spaces and topics2YesChat rooms grouped into sections, beside one community feed6
Real time chatThe difference between a forum people check weekly and a room they sit in.YesChat is built directly into the platform2YesLive rooms with typing and presence, free on every community6
Direct messages between membersMembers who can reach each other privately stay for each other, not only for you.YesCommunity messaging is native rather than an integration2PartialOne to one or groups of up to 10, but starting one needs a paid tier6
Member profilesA face and a history is what turns an account into a person other members recognize.PartialCustomer records and analytics rather than member profiles2YesPublic profiles with follows, blocks and private member notes6
Moderation toolsWhoever helps you run the place needs powers that stop short of your own.PartialTeam members are capped at one assistant below the top plan1YesPick each moderator's powers: moderate messages, time out, ban6
Points, levels or a leaderboardVisible progress is one of the few things that reliably brings people back daily.NoNo points, levels or badges anywhere in the product2YesPoints, levels, streaks, badges, celebrations, and a leaderboard the creator switches on6
Courses Whether you can teach something and check that it landed, not just publish videos.
Build courses inside the platformA course hosted somewhere else is a second login and a second bill.YesOnline courses are one of the core product types2YesCourses, modules and lessons, with video uploaded here or linked from YouTube6
Course video hosted for youEmbedding from YouTube means your paid lessons live on someone else’s player.PartialVideo is capped per plan, and external content comes in by embed1YesHosted and streamed by us, uploads capped at 1080p6
Quizzes and graded assessmentsChecking that someone learned it is the difference between a course and a playlist.YesQuiz lessons, multiple choice and multiple answer2YesGraded quizzes that hold the next lesson shut until passed6
Assignments you reviewWork handed in and marked up is what cohort programs are built on.NoNo submitted work or review flow is described2YesAssignments a creator reviews, approves or sends back6
Certificates on completionA certificate is the thing a member posts, which is free marketing for you.YesCourse completion certificates are issued on finishing2YesGenerated on completion, in the community accent color6
Release lessons on a scheduleDrip keeps a cohort together and stops a member finishing in a weekend and leaving.YesDrip content releases sections on a schedule2YesOn a fixed date, or a number of days after each member starts6
Courses that unlock by taking partEarning your way into the next course is a reason to show up that a paywall never gives anybody.NoAccess is by plan or by purchase, never by activity2YesA course can open at a level, showing the climb rather than a paywall6
Podcasting Whether a paid show reaches members in the app they already listen in.
Host podcast audioPodcast hosting is otherwise a separate product and a separate monthly bill.NoPodcasts are not mentioned anywhere on the features page2YesAudio hosted here, organized into shows and episodes6
Private member only podcast feedA private feed puts your paid show in the app people already listen in.NoNo RSS feed, so a show needs a separate host2YesAn RSS feed unique to each member, authenticated per person6
Plays in normal podcast appsAudio that only plays on the website is not really a podcast.NoNothing is published for a podcast player to find2PartialOne tap subscribe covers Apple Podcasts and Overcast only6
Lock a show to a paid tierAudio is one of the easiest things to charge for, if the platform lets you.DifferentSell a digital download or a course holding the audio2YesA whole show can be held to a paid tier6
Live experiences What you can run live, and whether the platform runs it or points at something else.
Broadcast to an audienceOne to many video, where the audience watches rather than joins.DifferentEvents run on Zoom, Meet or YouTube Live rather than Podia2YesAny audience size, but the community needs one paid tier6
Two way video roomsOffice hours, coaching calls and cohort sessions all need faces on both sides.DifferentWebinars and workshops scheduled through an outside tool2YesTwo way rooms, and again a paid tier is required6
Audio only roomsFar lower effort to show up to than video, so far more people do.NoNo audio only room format exists on Podia2YesAudio only rooms with a stage, paid tier required6
Replays saved automaticallyMost of a live session’s value is watched by people who missed it.PartialEvent replays can be attached, but nothing records itself2YesSaved automatically and publishable to the video library6
How live time is meteredEvery platform meters live somehow, and the shape of the limit decides what you can run.DifferentNothing metered, because the video runs elsewhere2DifferentA monthly minute pool that grows with your own revenue5
Monetization How money gets from a member to you, and how much of it survives the trip.
Recurring paid membershipsRecurring revenue is the reason most creators move onto a platform at all.YesMemberships with recurring billing are a core product2YesMonthly and yearly tiers, charged on your own Stripe account5
One time purchasesNot everything should be a subscription, and not every buyer wants one.YesAny product can be sold as a single purchase2YesAny piece of content can be sold once instead of gated6
Digital products and downloadsA template pack or a preset is often the first thing a member ever buys.YesDigital downloads are a first class product type2YesDownloads or external links, sold from a shop tab6
Sell physical merch you shipA shirt, a record or a print is something a fan will buy long before a membership.PartialAddresses at checkout, but no built in shipping, stock or fulfillment tools4YesVariants, stock and shipping rates. You ship within the US, and buyers need no account6
Coupons and promo codesA launch or a seasonal offer needs a code you can hand out and expire.YesCoupons are part of the standard store tooling2YesPercent or amount, once, repeating or forever, scoped per tier6
Free trials on a paid tierA trial is the cheapest way to show someone what is behind the wall.PartialNot named for member memberships on either page2YesUp to 365 days, with the card taken up front6
Affiliate program for membersMembers who earn for referring are the cheapest growth channel there is.YesAffiliate marketing is included in the feature list2YesMembers earn a commission on referrals at a rate you set6
What the platform takesThe number that decides how much of every membership actually reaches you.YesZero transaction fee on Shaker and Earthquaker plans1Different9% of what a member pays, and nothing at all before that5
Access Every screen a member might open it on, and whether it feels native there.
Web appWhere most members will actually read, and the only surface search engines see.YesThe web storefront is where everything happens2YesA full web app, server rendered for speed and search7
iPhone appPush notifications and a home screen icon are what make a community a habit.NoNo iPhone app is named for members or creators2YesPublished on the App Store as a native app7
Android appHalf the phones in most audiences, and often the majority outside the US.NoNo Android app is named anywhere on the site2YesPublished on Google Play as a native app7
Desktop appA window that stays open is very different from a tab that gets closed.NoNo desktop application of any kind is offered2YesWindows and macOS installers that update themselves7
Your own domainThe address decides whether the community reads as yours or as rented.YesCustom domains are supported on every published plan1YesYour own domain on any community, with no upgrade6
Content What else can live alongside the conversation without a second product.
Posts with mediaThe everyday surface. Whatever is awkward to post here will simply not get posted.YesCommunity posts plus a blog on the same site2YesCreators and admins post text, sixteen images, video and polls, and members comment and react6
On demand video libraryA back catalog people can browse is worth more than the same videos buried in a feed.PartialVideo caps at 500 on Mover and 1,000 on Shaker1YesUploads or YouTube links, browsable, with progress, bookmarks and comments6
Events and a calendarAnything recurring needs a place members can see it coming.YesWebinars, workshops and in person meetups as a product2YesRepeating events with timezones, RSVPs, a waitlist, and reminders to everyone going6
File libraryTemplates, worksheets and swipe files are what members quietly value most.YesDigital downloads cover files as a sellable product2YesA file library, 50 MB a file, folders one level deep6
PollsThe lowest effort thing a quiet member will ever do, and often their first.NoNo poll feature appears in the published list2YesIn posts and in chat rooms, results hidden until you vote6
A public page that sells the communityThe page a stranger lands on decides whether they ever become a member.YesA website builder and an online store are included2YesA public page by default, a block builder, and a link in bio page6
Value What the whole arrangement costs you, including the parts that are not the fee.
Start without paying anythingWhat you owe in the months before the community is earning anything at all.No$42 a month on Mover, after a 30 day trial1YesNothing. There is no MemberPad subscription to buy5
Members without a capA member cap turns your own growth into a bill you did not plan for.PartialProducts cap at 50 on Mover and 150 on Shaker1YesMembers, communities, posts, courses and tiers are all uncapped5
Email your membersEmail is the only channel you keep if the platform ever goes away.PartialEmail subscribers cap at 100, 500 and 1,000 by plan1Partial5,000 sends a month to start, growing with your revenue5
API and webhooksThe difference between a platform you can build around and one you cannot.PartialNo public API is named on the published pages2YesA documented public API and outbound webhooks6
Remove the platform brandingWhether the product reads as entirely yours, or visibly built on someone else.PartialA website builder with branding, inside Podia hosting2NoA Powered by MemberPad link always sits on the public page6

Moving from Podia to MemberPad

  1. Check your list size against Podia’s caps first

    If you are already bumping against 100, 500 or 1,000 email subscribers, that is usually the reason you are reading this, and it makes the rest of the decision straightforward.

  2. Export customers and products

    Take the customer list out of Podia before anything else, then inventory every product. Courses become courses, downloads become digital products, and coaching becomes a paid tier plus events.

  3. Decide what happens to the website and blog

    This is the part that gets worse rather than better. Podia gives you a site builder and a blog on your domain, and MemberPad gives you a public page and a site builder without blogging for creators.

  4. Rebuild courses and add the assessment

    Video re uploads either way. While you are in there it is worth adding the quizzes, assignments and certificates Podia does not publish, since the work is already open in front of you.

  5. Point the domain and tell your list twice

    Custom domains work on both, so the address can carry across. Send the announcement more than once, because a list that was capped at a thousand is a list where every person matters.

What does not come across

Creator blogging does not exist on MemberPad. The blog is ours rather than yours, so a Podia blog on your own domain has no equivalent and has to move to something else entirely.2

MemberPad imports your Podia customer export and emails each person a one tap invitation to join, so even a list of a few hundred does not move one signup at a time. What stays manual is billing, because payment methods never transfer between platforms, so each member re subscribes on the new plan.

If you are on Shaker or Earthquaker paying no transaction fee, moving to a flat 9% will cost you more in fees. Work out the difference before you decide, because on steady revenue it is not small.1

Questions people actually ask

Is MemberPad cheaper than Podia?

Below roughly $1,050 a month in member revenue, yes, because Podia charges $42 a month on Mover whether or not anything sells. Above that Podia is cheaper, and its Shaker and Earthquaker plans take no transaction fee at all beyond what the payment processor charges.

How many email subscribers does Podia allow?

One hundred on the Mover plan, five hundred on Shaker and one thousand on Earthquaker at $150 a month. These are the tightest email limits in this whole comparison. MemberPad starts at 5,000 recipient sends a month and the allowance grows as your revenue does.

Does Podia have a mobile app?

No mobile app is named anywhere on Podia’s features page, for members or for creators, so everything happens in a web browser. MemberPad publishes native apps on the App Store and Google Play plus self updating Windows and macOS desktop applications.

Can I host a podcast on Podia?

No. Podia names courses, community, email, downloads, coaching, events, a website, a store and a blog, and does not name podcasts at all. MemberPad hosts podcast audio and gives every member their own authenticated private RSS feed that works in a normal podcast player.

Does Podia support live streaming?

Not natively. Podia events cover webinars, workshops and in person meetups as sellable products, and the video runs on Zoom, Google Meet or YouTube Live rather than on Podia. MemberPad carries broadcasts, two way video rooms and audio rooms itself and saves the replays.

Which is better for selling courses?

Podia, if selling is the hard part, because it bundles a website builder, an online store, a blog and email in one product. MemberPad is better if the teaching needs checking, since it has graded quizzes, reviewed assignments and certificates that Podia does not publish.

What is the best Podia alternative for a growing email list?

Almost any of them, because Podia's subscriber caps of 100, 500 and 1,000 are the tightest in this comparison by a wide margin. MemberPad starts at 5,000 recipient sends a month and grows with revenue, and Kajabi includes unlimited email on every plan, which is the strongest answer if email is the center of your business.

How much does Podia cost?

Mover is $42 a month with a 5% transaction fee, Shaker is $84 with no transaction fee, and Earthquaker is $150. Payment processing of 2.9% plus 30 cents is charged separately by Stripe or PayPal on every plan, and all three come with a 30 day trial that does not ask for a card.

Does Podia work for a membership rather than a shop?

It can, and the shape of the product is against you. There is no mobile app and so no push notification, the community is capped at one assistant below the top plan, and the email allowance runs out early. Podia is at its best selling to people who arrive, buy and leave happy.

How this was checked

Every figure about another platform on these pages came from that platform’s own published pricing, feature or documentation pages, and each one is listed with the date it was read. Where a company does not publish an answer, the page says that rather than guessing at one.

Nothing here is based on testing a competitor’s product hands on, and no page claims otherwise. Claims about MemberPad are checked against the code that ships rather than against our own marketing, which is why several of them are unflattering.

Fee comparisons put both sides on the same footing. Some platforms quote a percentage that already covers card processing and some quote one that sits on top of it, and treating those two numbers as the same thing is the most common way a comparison like this misleads.

Last verified

Who published it

This comparison was written and published by MemberPad, so read it knowing we make one of the two products in it. We have tried to earn your trust the only way that works, which is by being specific about what the other platform does better and where ours falls short.

Competitor pricing and features change. If you find something here that is out of date or wrong, the sources and the date we checked them are listed on every page so you can see exactly what we were looking at, and we would rather hear about it than have it sit here.

Drew AumanFounder, MemberPad

Sources

  1. 1PricingPodia · podia.com · checked 2026-11-07
  2. 2FeaturesPodia · podia.com · checked 2026-09-17
  3. 3PricingStripe · stripe.com · checked 2026-11-07
  4. 4Selling physical productsPodia · help.podia.com · checked 2026-10-20
  5. 5PricingMemberPad · memberpad.com · checked 2026-11-07
  6. 6FeaturesMemberPad · memberpad.com · checked 2026-11-07
  7. 7AppsMemberPad · memberpad.com · checked 2026-11-07

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