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CompareVerified 2026-11-07

MemberPad vs Teachable

Teachable is built for instructors, with scheduled lesson release, quizzes and a checkout designed to sell courses. MemberPad wraps courses inside a live community with podcasts and video rooms, and gates none of it behind a tier the way Teachable gates community, a custom domain and certificates.

The short version

Choose Teachable if

  • You are teaching students, not running a community. Teachable is built for a course and a checkout, and everything MemberPad puts around a course is weight you would not use.2
  • You want the transaction fee gone and you sell steadily. Teachable’s Builder and Growth plans take no transaction fee beyond standard processing.1
  • Selling the course is the hard part. Order bumps, upsells, abandoned cart recovery, coupons, a site builder and student referrals are all standard, and MemberPad has almost none of it.2
  • You want to start cheaply and only teach. Starter is $29 a month billed annually, which is the lowest entry price of any monthly plan in this comparison.1

It is a tie on

  • Both host course video themselves rather than making you embed it, and both track how far a student has worked through a course.2
  • Both sell memberships and one time purchases, support coupons, and run an affiliate or referral arrangement so other people can sell for you.2
  • Neither caps how many students or members you can have, and both issue certificates, though Teachable reserves them for its Growth plan.1

Choose MemberPad if

  • You want the whole product on day one. Teachable holds community and a custom domain back from its $39 Starter plan and certificates back until $189, and MemberPad gates none of the three behind anything.1
  • You have a podcast or you run live sessions. Teachable names neither, and MemberPad hosts audio with a private feed per member and carries broadcasts, video rooms and audio rooms itself.2
  • You sell more than five things. Starter allows five products and Builder allows ten, where MemberPad caps nothing because there is no plan for a cap to attach to.1
  • Your students should talk to each other. Teachable names no chat at all, and real time rooms with presence are free on every MemberPad community.2

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.
CapabilityTeachableMemberPad
Real time chatThe difference between a forum people check weekly and a room they sit in.NoNo chat feature is named anywhere on Teachable2YesLive 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.YesCourses are the entire reason the product exists2YesCourses, 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 lives somewhere else2YesAn RSS feed unique to each member, authenticated per person6
Broadcast to an audienceOne to many video, where the audience watches rather than joins.NoNo broadcasting product appears in the feature list2YesAny 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 Builder and Growth 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 is offered on any plan2YesWindows 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.DifferentVideo lives inside courses rather than a browsable library2YesUploads 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$39 monthly, or $29 billed annually, on Starter1YesNothing. There is no MemberPad subscription to buy5

What each one costs

Teachable charges 7.5% on Starter and nothing on the two plans above it, with processing billed separately at 2.9% plus 30 cents in the US and 3.9% plus 30 cents internationally. That international rate is worth noticing if your students are spread out.1

Against Starter the two meet at roughly $2,600 a month in revenue, because 7.5% plus the monthly fee is close to a flat 9% for a long stretch. Against Builder at zero percent the crossover is much lower and Teachable wins sooner.3

The number that actually matters is not on the fee line. Community and a custom domain both begin on Builder at $89 a month and certificates wait for Growth at $189, so a course business that wants all three is comparing $189 against nothing rather than $29 against nothing.1

Teachable Starter

$39/moplus 7.5% of each sale

  • $29 a month billed annually
  • 5 products, 1 admin
  • No community, domain or certificates

Teachable Builder

$89/mo

  • $69 a month billed annually
  • 10 products, 1 admin
  • Community and custom domain, no certificates

Teachable Growth

$189/mo

  • $139 a month billed annually
  • 50 products, 5 admins
  • Adds certificates

Teachable Custom

Custom pricing

  • Flexible products, students and seats
  • Sandbox school for testing
  • Priority SLA based support

MemberPad

$0/moplus 9% of each sale

  • No plans and no tiers
  • Uncapped products and members
  • Nothing gated by tier

What each one takes on top

Where a percentage is shown above, Teachable 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 $989 a month, Teachable Builder costs less than MemberPad. Below that we are cheaper, mostly because there is no monthly bill to pay in a quiet month.

  • Starter overtakes us at about $2,600 a month
  • Builder overtakes us at about $989 a month
  • Growth overtakes us at about $2,100 a month

Community

Community is a plan, not a feature

Teachable has a community, and it begins at $189 a month on the Growth plan. Below that a school is one instructor talking to many students, with no chat, no direct messages, no feed and no way for students to reach each other.1

That is a defensible position for a product that calls its users instructors rather than creators. Teachable is optimizing for somebody who sells a course and moves on, not somebody building a place people return to.2

MemberPad is the opposite. Real time chat rooms with presence and typing are free on every community, profiles and follows come as standard, and nothing about the community is held behind a tier because there are no tiers.

Courses

Teachable delivers a course cleanly, and release is no longer the difference

This is Teachable’s home ground and it is strong. Hosted video, quizzes, progress tracking, unlimited students on every plan including the $29 one, and drip courses that release lessons on a schedule.2

Drip is not a loss for MemberPad any more. A section or a lesson now opens at a fixed date and time, or a set number of days after that member started the course or joined the community, and the two stack: an item waits for the later of its own rule and its section. Members hear about it by bell, push and email.

What Teachable keeps is the lower percentage. Starter is $39 a month, or $29 billed annually, where MemberPad is nothing at all, and it takes 7.5% on top of processing against our 9%. That makes us cheaper until about $2,600 a month in sales and Teachable cheaper above it, which is the whole of the price argument between these two.1

Where MemberPad answers is the marking. Assignments come back to a creator who approves them or sends them back for another attempt, and certificates are issued on completion without waiting for a $189 plan.1

Podcasting

No audio, which fits what Teachable is for

Teachable names courses, downloads, memberships, coaching, payments, a site builder, marketing, analytics and a mobile app. It names no podcast product, and for a course platform that is a reasonable scope rather than an omission.2

The consequence for a creator whose work includes a show is the familiar one. The podcast lives at a separate host on a separate bill, and cannot be part of what a Teachable membership actually unlocks.2

MemberPad hosts the audio and issues every member an authenticated private feed, so a paid show turns up in their podcast app next to everything else they listen to.

Live

Coaching is sold here, and it happens somewhere else

Teachable sells coaching as a product type, handling the booking and the payment, and that is genuinely useful for an instructor who also sells time. What it does not do is carry the call.2

There is no broadcasting, no video room and no audio room anywhere in the feature list, so anything live runs on a tool you bring and the recording is yours to handle.2

MemberPad carries all three formats and saves replays into the video library automatically, at the cost of a metered minute pool and a requirement that the community has at least one paid tier before live will start.

Money

Cheap to start, and the useful plan is not the cheap one

Starter at $29 a month billed annually is the lowest entry price in this comparison, and it takes 7.5% on top. Builder and Growth take no transaction fee at all beyond standard processing, which is a real advantage on steady revenue.1

Against Starter the crossover with MemberPad sits near $2,600 a month, because 7.5% plus a small monthly fee tracks close to a flat 9% for a long stretch. Against Builder, Teachable wins much sooner.3

The caps are where the real comparison lives. Five products and one admin on Starter, ten on Builder, with community and a custom domain starting at $89 and certificates waiting for Growth at $189 a month.1

Access

A mobile app on both, and more screens on ours

Teachable names a mobile app in its feature list, which puts it ahead of Podia and level with most of this comparison for students who learn on a phone.2

MemberPad publishes native apps on the App Store and Google Play and adds self updating Windows and macOS desktop applications. The sharper difference is the domain: ours is ungated and Teachable’s starts at $189 a month.1

For a course this matters less than it would for a community. A student works through lessons in sittings they choose rather than dropping in, so a good web experience covers most of it and the app is a convenience rather than the thing that makes the product work.

Content

A school, against a place with rooms in it

Everything in Teachable is a course, a download or a coaching package, and the student experience is a curriculum with progress against it. That clarity is exactly why it works for instructors.2

MemberPad spreads wider: a video library with bookmarks, a file library, photo albums, notebooks, events with timezones, polls and a shop. More places to put things, and more to keep tidy.

A curriculum is a strong organizing idea and a narrow one. It works perfectly while everything you publish is a lesson, and it has nowhere obvious for the things around a course that often matter most, like the recording of a call or the file everybody asks for.

Value

Compare the plan you would actually need

The mistake to avoid here is comparing MemberPad against Teachable Starter. If you want a community, certificates and your own domain, the plan you would actually buy is Growth, and the number to weigh is $189 a month rather than $29.1

If you genuinely only need to deliver a course to students who do not need to talk to each other, and you are selling enough for the percentage to matter more than the monthly fee, Teachable Starter does that for less than almost anything here.2

If the course is one part of something larger that includes a podcast, live sessions and a membership people spend time inside, that is the case for MemberPad, and you no longer give up scheduled release to get it.

Everything we checked

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

Teachable and MemberPad compared. Every claim about Teachable is sourced, and was last checked on 2026-11-07.
CapabilityTeachableMemberPad
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.PartialCommunity starts on the $89 Builder plan, not on Starter1YesChat rooms grouped into sections, beside one community feed6
Real time chatThe difference between a forum people check weekly and a room they sit in.NoNo chat feature is named anywhere on Teachable2YesLive 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.NoNo student to student messaging is offered2PartialOne 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.PartialStudent 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.PartialAdmin users cap at one below the Growth 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 appear in the features2YesPoints, 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.YesCourses are the entire reason the product exists2YesCourses, 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.YesVideo hosting is included on every published plan2YesHosted 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.YesQuizzes are a named part of the student experience2YesGraded quizzes that hold the next lesson shut until passed6
Assignments you reviewWork handed in and marked up is what cohort programs are built on.PartialQuizzes are named, submitted and marked work is not2YesAssignments a creator reviews, approves or sends back6
Certificates on completionA certificate is the thing a member posts, which is free marketing for you.PartialCertificates arrive on the Growth plan at $189 monthly1YesGenerated 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 courses are a named feature on the platform2YesOn 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.NoA student is enrolled or not, with nothing to earn2YesA 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.NoNo podcast product is named for course creators2YesAudio 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 lives somewhere else2YesAn 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 to Apple Podcasts or elsewhere2PartialOne 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 the audio as a digital download instead2YesA 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.NoNo broadcasting product appears in the feature list2YesAny 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.DifferentCoaching is sold and scheduled, the call runs elsewhere2YesTwo 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 Teachable2YesAudio only rooms with a stage, paid tier required6
Replays saved automaticallyMost of a live session’s value is watched by people who missed it.PartialA recording can be added to a course afterwards2YesSaved 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.Not applicableNothing to meter, since no live video is carried2DifferentA 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 product type2YesMonthly and yearly tiers, charged on your own Stripe account5
One time purchasesNot everything should be a subscription, and not every buyer wants one.YesCourses sell as single purchases by default2YesAny 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.PartialDownloads sell as products, counted against the plan limit1YesDownloads 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.NoCourses, coaching, downloads and bundles, with no physical product type24YesVariants, 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, order bumps and upsells at checkout2YesPercent 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.PartialPayment plans are named, member trials are not2YesUp to 365 days, with the card taken up front6
Affiliate program for membersMembers who earn for referring are the cheapest growth channel there is.YesStudent referrals are part of the marketing tools2YesMembers 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 Builder and Growth 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 school site is the primary student surface2YesA full web app, server rendered for speed and search7
iPhone appPush notifications and a home screen icon are what make a community a habit.YesA mobile app is named in the feature list2YesPublished on the App Store as a native app7
Android appHalf the phones in most audiences, and often the majority outside the US.PartialA mobile app is named without stating both platforms2YesPublished 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 is offered on any plan2YesWindows and macOS installers that update themselves7
Your own domainThe address decides whether the community reads as yours or as rented.PartialCustom domains start on Growth at $189 a month1YesYour 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.NoNo community feed or posting surface for students2YesCreators 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.DifferentVideo lives inside courses rather than a browsable library2YesUploads or YouTube links, browsable, with progress, bookmarks and comments6
Events and a calendarAnything recurring needs a place members can see it coming.NoNo calendar or events product is named at all2YesRepeating events with timezones, RSVPs, a waitlist, and reminders to everyone going6
File libraryTemplates, worksheets and swipe files are what members quietly value most.PartialDigital downloads arrive on Growth, as sellable products1YesA file library, 50 MB a file, folders one level deep6
PollsThe lowest effort thing a quiet member will ever do, and often their first.DifferentQuizzes serve this purpose, as assessment rather than opinion2YesIn 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 site builder with sales pages is 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$39 monthly, or $29 billed annually, on Starter1YesNothing. 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.PartialStudents are unlimited, products cap at 5 and 101YesMembers, communities, posts, courses and tiers are all uncapped5
Email your membersEmail is the only channel you keep if the platform ever goes away.YesSales and marketing email is part of every plan2Partial5,000 sends a month to start, growing with your revenue5
API and webhooksThe difference between a platform you can build around and one you cannot.PartialThe public API and Zapier both start on the $189 Growth plan1YesA documented public API and outbound webhooks6
Remove the platform brandingWhether the product reads as entirely yours, or visibly built on someone else.PartialA branded school, with a custom domain only on Growth1NoA Powered by MemberPad link always sits on the public page6

Moving from Teachable to MemberPad

  1. Re enter each release schedule, and pick its anchor

    Scheduled release exists here now, so a dripped course carries over, but the rules are typed in again rather than exported. Decide per section whether the days should count from when a member started the course or from when they joined.

  2. Export students and inventory products

    Take the student list out of Teachable before anything else, then list every product. Courses become courses, downloads become digital products, coaching becomes a tier plus an event.

  3. Rebuild the curriculum and add the marking

    Video re uploads either way. Teachable quizzes map onto MemberPad assessments, and this is the moment to add the assignments and reviewed work Teachable does not offer.

  4. Set up the community you were paying $189 for

    If you were on Growth, this is the part that gets better. Chat rooms, profiles, follows and a feed are all free here, so build the room properly rather than porting a forum across.

  5. Move the domain and re open the school

    Custom domains are ungated on MemberPad, so the address carries across without an upgrade. Invite students in waves so anything awkward surfaces on a small group first.

What does not come across

Release schedules do not travel with the course. Every date and every day count is re entered on this side, and a member who is halfway through on Teachable restarts their clock here, so a cohort mid course is the wrong moment to move.2

If you are on Builder or Growth paying no transaction fee, a flat 9% will cost you more. Run the arithmetic against your actual revenue, because on a steady course business the difference is not small.1

MemberPad imports your Teachable student export and emails each person a one tap invitation to join, so enrollment is no longer one signup at a time. Payment plans and course progress are what still do not carry, because billing and tracking never transfer between platforms, so anyone mid course restarts their progress.

Questions people actually ask

Is MemberPad cheaper than Teachable?

Against the Starter plan, below roughly $2,600 a month in revenue, yes. Against Builder and Growth, which charge no transaction fee at all, Teachable is cheaper much sooner. The fairer comparison is usually Growth at $189 a month, since that is the plan that includes community.

Does MemberPad have drip content like Teachable?

Yes. Sections and lessons open on a fixed date and time, or a set number of days after that member started the course or joined the community, so a course sold continuously still releases week by week for each person. It also stacks with our older gate, so a lesson can need the date and a passing score.

Which Teachable plan do I need for a community?

Growth, at $189 a month or $139 billed annually. Community, certificates and a custom domain all begin on that plan, and the cheaper Starter and Builder plans have none of the three. On MemberPad none of those three is gated, because there are no plans.

Does Teachable have chat?

No chat feature is named anywhere in Teachable’s published capabilities, on any plan, so students cannot message each other or hold a live conversation. MemberPad includes real time chat rooms with presence and typing on every community, at no cost and with no tier requirement.

Can I sell a podcast through Teachable?

Not as a podcast. Teachable names no podcast hosting and no RSS feed, so the closest approximation is selling the audio as a digital download, which nobody listens to in a podcast app. MemberPad hosts the audio and issues every member an authenticated private feed.

How many courses can I sell on Teachable?

Five products on Starter, ten on Builder and fifty on Growth, with a Custom plan available above that. Students are unlimited on every plan, which is genuinely generous. MemberPad caps neither products nor members, since there are no plans for a cap to attach to.

What is the best Teachable alternative with a community included?

MemberPad, if you object to paying for the tier that carries them. On Teachable the $39 Starter has no community and no custom domain, and certificates start at the $189 Growth plan, where none of the three is gated here and scheduled release is not either. Circle and Skool are also worth weighing, though both charge a monthly fee and neither names the dated release that probably brought you to Teachable in the first place.

How much does Teachable cost?

Starter is $39 a month or $29 billed annually with a 7.5% transaction fee, Builder is $89 or $69 with no transaction fee, and Growth is $189 or $139. Card processing of 2.9% plus 30 cents in the US, or 3.9% plus 30 cents internationally, is charged separately on every plan.

Does Teachable have drip content?

Yes, drip courses are a named feature on Teachable. It used to be the clearest thing Teachable did that MemberPad could not, and that is no longer true, because scheduled release here offers a per member clock as well as a fixed date. The remaining differences between the two are price and everything that surrounds the course.

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. 1PricingTeachable · teachable.com · checked 2026-11-07
  2. 2FeaturesTeachable · teachable.com · checked 2026-09-17
  3. 3PricingStripe · stripe.com · checked 2026-11-07
  4. 4Publishing and product visibilityTeachable · support.teachable.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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MemberPad vs KajabiThe most complete selling machine here: funnels, landing pages, email automation and drip courses. It is priced like one, and its cheapest plan caps you at five products and one community.MemberPad vs PodiaThe friendliest all in one storefront here, with courses, downloads, a website and email in one calm product. Its email subscriber caps are the lowest in this comparison and it has no mobile app at all.MemberPad vs ThinkificA mature course builder that grew a community around the lessons. Its cheapest plan is $109 a month, and every plan below Plus stops at ten thousand students.All comparisonsEvery platform in one table, with the sources behind each row.

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