Teachable more or less invented the modern self-serve course platform, and its model shaped everyone's assumptions: you make a video course, the platform hosts and sells it. TeachClub breaks exactly that assumption — so this comparison is less "which is cheaper" and more "which century of course-making are you signing up for." Both get a fair hearing. Facts checked September 17, 2026.
The core difference in one paragraph
Teachable is a delivery platform: it takes the course you've already produced — filmed lessons, written modules — and wraps checkout, hosting, and a student portal around it. The production is entirely on you, and it's the expensive part. TeachClub is a production and teaching platform: the AI builds the curriculum from your description, teaches it interactively, and answers student questions from your material. On Teachable you are a video producer who teaches; on TeachClub you are a teacher whose production is handled.
Price and fees, side by side
| Teachable | TeachClub | |
|---|---|---|
| Entry plan | Starter — $39/mo ($29 annual) + 7.5% fee on every sale | Teacher — $27/mo |
| Fee-free tiers | Builder $89/mo · Growth $189/mo (0% platform fee) | Club — $69/mo |
| Card processing | 2.9% + 30¢ (US) on top, all plans; own-Stripe = 2% integration fee | Included in the split |
| Platform economics | Subscription + fees; you keep the rest | You keep 60% via built-in checkout — or your own funnel at a flat per-seat fee |
| Course production | You film and assemble everything | AI builds from your description + uploads |
| Who teaches | Your videos, identically for everyone | The AI, adapting per student, answering questions |
| Sales tax | Handled via teachable:pay (their strength) | Handled by the platform as merchant |
| Time to working school | However long production takes you | An afternoon |
The real cost comparison nobody prints
Teachable's sticker prices only count if the course already exists. If it doesn't, add the actual entry fee: a camera, editing software, and months of filming — or paying someone who has them. That production tax is the real moat between most experts and their first course, and it's the line TeachClub deletes. Compare total cost-to-first-student, not subscriptions: an afternoon and $27 versus a produced video course plus $39–189/month.
What Teachable genuinely does better
- Video delivery at scale. Hosting, players, downloads — if your product IS a video library, this is their home turf.
- Global tax remittance. teachable:pay calculates, collects, and remits VAT/GST across 45+ countries — genuinely best-in-class paperwork removal for international sellers.
- Creator tooling maturity. Certificates, quizzes-on-video, bundles, a decade of small conveniences.
- BackOffice payouts for co-authors and affiliates (an optional paid add-on) — infrastructure TeachClub doesn't have; our affiliate answer is a workaround.
What TeachClub does that Teachable doesn't attempt
- Production is included. Curriculum, lessons, quizzes, sales page — generated from your knowledge, no camera anywhere.
- Teaching is included. Students get an interactive tutor that adapts and answers — not a play button. What students experience.
- One price at entry, no platform fee stacking. $27 with the whole product; Teachable's cheapest plan takes 7.5% of every sale on top of processing.
- Changes by asking. "Change my price to $37" — the assistant does it. Teachable is a dashboard you learn.
Who should pick which
| Pick Teachable if… | Pick TeachClub if… |
|---|---|
| You already have a produced video course ready to upload | You have expertise but nothing filmed — and don't want to film |
| Your students specifically expect long-form video | Your students want to learn interactively and ask questions |
| International tax remittance is a top-three concern | Getting live this month is a top-three concern |
| You'll pay $89+ to escape the entry-tier fee | You want the whole product at the entry price |
Already on Teachable with students? The two-platform month works here too: build the TeachClub school in an afternoon, compare the teaching, and bring students over only if it wins. If your produced videos are good, upload them — the AI teaches around them, which is arguably the best of both models.