The short answer
On annual billing, Builder wins above about $533 in monthly gross.
On annual billing, Starter is modeled at $29 per month plus a 7.5% Teachable transaction fee. Builder is $69 per month with no Teachable transaction fee. With no refunds, the $40 subscription gap is erased when 7.5% of monthly sales reaches $40. Payment charges are excluded.
Plan comparison
Teachable Starter vs Builder at a glance
| Plan | Monthly billing | Annual-plan equivalent | Teachable transaction fee | Fee-math fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $39/month | $29/month | 7.5% | Pre-launch or below the break-even point |
| Builder | $89/month | $69/month | 0% | Regular sales or a need for higher plan allowances |
Annual prices require a yearly commitment. Payment processing, payment-bundle charges, tax treatment, refunds, disputes, and usage overages are separate. BackOffice applies only to legacy payment setups; it is not the current new-school model.
The annual equivalents mean $348 for Starter or $828 for Builder over a year. On regular monthly billing, the $39/$89 subscriptions tie at about $666.67 in monthly gross: $39 + 7.5% × $666.67 ≈ $89. The explorer below uses annual equivalents and excludes payment costs.
Interactive plan check
Starter vs Builder: use your own sales.
Compare subscription and platform charges only. Payment processing is excluded because it normally applies to both plans and does not move this upgrade break-even.
Lower modeled monthly costBuilderby $35.00 at 10 sales
Starter
$104.00$29.00 subscription · 7.5% of grossBuilder
$69.00$69.00 subscription · No modeled platform feePublished-fee break-even: $533.33 monthly gross revenue.
New-school payment routes
Teachable Payments replaced the old default gateway model.
Teachable's current setup guide gives a new school two routes. Teachable Payments is the managed, Stripe-powered option in 41 supported countries. Schools elsewhere are routed to a Custom Payment Gateway that connects the creator's own Stripe Standard account. “Available in all countries” does not make Stripe universally available—the creator still needs a valid Stripe account and bank route for the country or business entity.
| Decision | Teachable Payments | Custom Payment Gateway |
|---|---|---|
| Eligibility | 41 listed creator countries | Requires a connected Stripe Standard account |
| Payout | Stripe Express bank payout; the latest payout guide describes a daily cadence at about two business days | Managed in the creator's Stripe account |
| Tax | Teachable handles covered marketplace taxes | Creator remains responsible |
| Methods | Cards and wallets; more local methods depend on the selected bundle | Cards and Stripe Link; PayPal can be connected for eligible USD purchases |
| Affiliate payouts | Automation depends on payment bundle | Manual |
The Monthly Payment Gateway and BackOffice remain relevant to some legacy schools. Do not use those legacy fees or PayPal payout rules to model a new school.
Teachable's setup article still lists weekly and monthly choices, while its more recently updated payout guide lists daily processing. Confirm the real account's schedule; initial verification and bank delays can make a first payout take longer. See the payout-source discrepancy and distinguish verification, bank transit, negative balances and reserve discretion before treating sales as available cash.
Examples
What the two plans cost at three revenue levels
The table isolates the subscription and Teachable transaction fee so the plan decision stays visible. Payment processing would affect both columns and is not included here. These rows assume no refunds.
| Monthly gross | Starter cost | Builder cost | Lower-cost plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| $500 | $66.50 | $69 | Starter by $2.50 |
| $1,000 | $104 | $69 | Builder by $35 |
| $3,000 | $254 | $69 | Builder by $185 |
Current payment charges
0% platform fee is not 0% payment cost.
Add the school-plan fee and the applicable processor rate. These current charges are not legacy BackOffice fees and are excluded from the plan explorer above.
| Charge | Published rate | Scope |
|---|---|---|
| US domestic card processing | 2.9% + $0.30 | Teachable Payments example; other locations and methods differ |
| Standard tax handling | +0.5% | Transactions with assessed tax |
| Standard recurring payment | +0.7% | Recurring transactions |
| Go Global bundle | +2.8% | All transactions; Standard tax-handling and recurring additions waived |
| Custom gateway integration | +2% | US-based CPG schools only, in addition to Stripe processing and the plan fee |
On a $100 US domestic-card sale, Builder with Go Global has $6 in processing and bundle charges: 2.9% + $0.30 + 2.8%. Starter also adds its 7.5% plan fee. This excludes subscription, tax and other adjustments; it is not a payout quote.
Refund sensitivity checked October 4, 2026
A full refund can leave processing costs behind.
Current Teachable Payments guidance says original processing fees still apply after a refund. It does not clearly establish whether each base-plan or payment-bundle fee is returned. Keep the calculator's conservative defaults until the actual route confirms otherwise; an older search snippet is not verification of current policy.
This fictional example starts with four $100 sales on Starter's $29 annual-plan equivalent and 7.5% base fee. It uses illustrative processing of 2.9% + $0.30 per original sale. The last row changes only the unverified base-fee-return assumption: these are planning sensitivities, not two published Teachable policies.
| Fictional scenario | Refunded | Collected | Base plan fees | Processing | Subscription | Remainder |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No refund | $0.00 | $400.00 | $30.00 | $12.80 | $29.00 | $328.20 |
| One full refund: keep the base plan fee | $100.00 | $300.00 | $30.00 | $12.80 | $29.00 | $228.20 |
| Sensitivity only: base plan fee returned | $100.00 | $300.00 | $22.50 | $12.80 | $29.00 | $235.70 |
A $100 refund reduces collected revenue to $300. Keeping the original $30 base fee leaves $228.20; returning $7.50 of that fee would leave $235.70. The original $12.80 processing cost remains in both refund rows. This $7.50 difference is uncertainty to resolve, not money promised back.
These are not payout quotes. Payment bundles, tax, integration fees, disputes, overages, other business costs and timing are excluded. Partial refunds, mixed product types and subscription histories need separate reconciliation; this equal-price example does not model them.
For new Teachable Payments course purchases, the documented standard window is 14 days from the initial payment. Coaching, downloads and mixed bundles follow the creator's policy. Custom gateways have their own refund arrangements. A partial refund does not automatically cancel enrollment or a subscription; cancelling future payments is not itself a refund. Balance constraints can also delay settlement. Confirm the actual product and route rather than applying this example to legacy or custom-gateway schools.
Use the free profit calculator for a conservative sensitivity. Its platform and processor return settings are independent; select a return only after confirmation. No refund is issued and no financial account is connected by this tool.
Costs outside the headline price
Processing and limits can matter more than the plan label
A platform transaction fee, payment-processing fee, and payout fee are separate deductions. Use the course platform fee definitions to label them consistently, then use the hidden-cost checklist to include usage limits and paid extras in the same budget. Removing one percentage does not remove the other costs.
Teachable documents separate payment-processing and payment-bundle charges. The exact amount depends on the seller's payment route, country, settlement currency, buyer method, one-time versus recurring billing, and optional bundle. Treat the calculator's editable processor fields as a planning input—not a universal Teachable rate.
Teachable usage rules now depend on the school’s policy date. Confirm product entitlements and operational features separately. A lower fee result is not a recommendation if the plan cannot support the school you expect to run.
Usage policy checked October 3, 2026
School creation date changes the usage-fee calculation.
Schools created from September 3, 2026 use the new policy. Earlier schools retain legacy rules until their first renewal on or after April 30, 2027, unless they switch sooner.
- Completed Native or Custom Payment Gateway transactions above $0 do not incur student usage fees. Imports, manual enrollment, free access, and coupon-to-zero checkouts share a 100-student allowance; each additional countable student costs $0.50 monthly.
- The billing-period peak matters. Counting starts when a school enters this policy; earlier students are excluded. Mixed paid/free access can still make a student countable.
- Video storage includes 1,000 GB; each additional TB costs $15 monthly.
Product allowance unresolved in the usage policy: the September 28 revision does not promise unlimited published products. Current pricing cards list 5 for Starter, 10 for Builder, and 50 for Growth. Confirm your actual school entitlement before budgeting capacity; do not infer unlimited products from the student-fee exemption.
Peak-count example: 150 newly countable students produce a $25 monthly usage charge above the 100 included. Removing 60 during the next billing period does not lower that period's peak charge; a following period that never exceeds 90 has no student overage. This example uses the current policy, not legacy rules.
Official usage policy and legacy schedule · Current pricing cards
The fee calculator excludes these capacity overages. Its subscription break-even alone does not establish plan suitability.
Plan reduction checks · October 5, 2026
A smaller product count does not prove safe learner access
Before counting a cheaper plan as savings, separate catalog visibility, published-product capacity and existing learner access. Teachable's public guides disagree on one access outcome; a manual inventory can expose the risk without changing your school.
| Proposed change | Documented boundary | Record to review first |
|---|---|---|
| Hide a product from the catalog | Unlisted products remain published and count toward the published-product limit. | Record publish status separately from catalog visibility; hiding a card does not free a slot. |
| Unpublish an older course | The June 2026 publishing guide says enrolled learners lose access; the October 2025 catalog guide says they retain it. | Keep this conflict unresolved. Do not promise uninterrupted access or unpublish a customer course merely to test the policy. |
| Move to a lower plan | The plan-change guide applies downgrades at renewal and says excess products are automatically unpublished, most recently published first. | Record the effective date, target allowance, publication dates and access commitments before treating the lower invoice as a saving. |
Compare the publishing guide, catalog-card guide and plan-change rules. A newer publication date does not establish your school's behavior. The plan guide also says cancellation takes the school offline and removes learner access; cancellation is not a storage-only downgrade.
Use an existing product list with columns for publish status, visibility, last publication date, enrolled access commitments and the target plan. Preserve content and records before deciding; deletion is not required to assess a downgrade. For a platform move, use the Teachable exit inventory. This scoped review does not resolve student-usage eligibility or complete the September 2 pricing audit.
Does hiding a Teachable product free a product slot?
No. The publishing guide counts unlisted but published products toward the limit. Catalog visibility and publication are separate settings.
Will enrolled learners keep access after unpublishing?
Do not promise that outcome: the two official guides disagree. Preserve the access obligation and confirm the actual school behavior before changing a customer product.
Plan and checkout qualifications checked October 4, 2026
A fee-free plan does not unlock every course or sales feature.
Builder removes the base percentage fee, but native course certificates begin on Growth. Growth is $139 per month on annual billing ($1,668 committed for the year), or $189 on regular monthly billing. Compare the plan that can deliver the actual course, not only Starter versus Builder.
| Required workflow | Current qualification | Budget or pilot implication |
|---|---|---|
| Native completion certificate | Growth or higher, not Starter or Builder | Use the eligible plan price; an exported completion record is not the native certificate feature |
| New Teachable Payments upsells | Checkout and in-lesson placements; post-purchase and thank-you-page placements removed | Recreate the intended offer path before counting saved software or extra revenue |
| Abandoned-cart follow-up | Pricing advertises recovery; the new payment-system email guide labels it coming soon | Verify it in the actual school; assign no assumed recovered revenue to the comparison |
The new checkout allows up to ten add-on offers. A subscription add-on cannot be attached to a one-time main product; free products have no checkout add-ons. Main-product coupons do not discount those offers, and already-enrolled students do not see them. An in-lesson offer opens its own checkout, not a guaranteed one-click post-purchase charge.
The migration guide documents removed placements, while older cart-email guidance still describes automatic sending. The newer gateway-specific articles describe a different experience; they do not establish what a legacy or custom-gateway school has enabled. Confirm the actual account instead of treating the conflicting documentation as proof of universal availability.
These are scoped plan/workflow checks, not a completed cross-platform audit. Neither this guide nor the calculator assumes sales from these tools. For formal awards, use the certificate and assessment checklist; a completion PDF does not establish accreditation.
Frequently asked
Teachable fee questions
What is the Starter-to-Builder break-even?
About $533.33 in monthly gross revenue on the annual plans. At that point, Starter's 7.5% fee is approximately $40—the same as Builder's higher subscription.
Is payment processing included in the 7.5%?
No. Teachable lists payment processing separately. Rates vary, so confirm the current charge for your gateway, payment method, customer location, and currency.
Should every seller upgrade after $533?
Not automatically. The break-even isolates platform fees. Billing commitment, plan limits, included tools, taxes, and operational needs still belong in the decision.
Does a refund return every Teachable fee?
Not established by the current public refund article. It confirms retained original processing fees, but does not clearly settle every base-plan and bundle layer. Compare the qualified refund sensitivity and leave fee-return settings off until the actual route confirms a return.
Is the Monthly Payment Gateway available to a new school?
No. Teachable's 2026 transition documentation says it is no longer available to new schools. Existing legacy schools may continue to use it, which is why older help articles still appear in search results.
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Official sources
Confirm current pricing before buying
The subscription prices and platform transaction-fee table were rechecked on October 4, 2026, alongside current payment-bundle, processing and US custom-gateway charges. The usage section was checked against the September 28 revision of Teachable's legal policy. This is a scoped update, not a new full audit of every cross-platform assumption or guide. Confirm the charges and schedule for your actual payment route.
The official source links above are direct and non-affiliate. Any separate Teachable partner offer is explicitly labeled.