Achene vs Teachable
There’s a better home for your online courses.
A course platform that still charges 7.5% on its entry plan, keeps email and a custom domain for the plans above it, and has put its community feature into maintenance mode.
Get early access to AcheneKey differences
- 0%
- Commission on every student payment
- vs 7.5% on Teachable Starter
- Unlimited
- Courses you can publish on Achene
- vs 5 courses on Teachable Starter and 10 on Builder
- $14/mo
- Entry price for unlimited courses, 0% fees
- vs $89/mo for Teachable Builder, the first plan with email and a custom domain
Feature by feature
How Achene and Teachable stack up on the things that matter most to independent educators.
| Feature | Achene | Teachable |
|---|---|---|
| Commission on sales | 0% on all tiers | 7.5% (Starter), 0% on Builder and Growth when you use Teachable Payments |
| Course limit | Unlimited on all tiers | 5 (Starter) · 10 (Builder) · 50 (Growth) |
| Student limit | Unlimited on all tiers | Unlimited on all tiers |
| Custom domain | All paid plans | Builder ($89/month) and above |
| Email marketing | Included on every plan | Built-in email marketing from the Builder plan; not on Starter |
| Community | Global + per-course, all tiers | In maintenance mode: no new features, and not open to new schools |
| Bulk student import (CSV) | Included | Growth plan ($189/month) only |
| Video hosting | Included on all tiers, unlimited bandwidth | Included, up to 1 TB of video storage |
| Payments | Direct Stripe, funds land in your account | Teachable Payments, with sales tax and VAT handling |
| Annual lock-in | None, month-to-month | 22% discount incentivises annual |
| Live classes | Built in on every plan, with RSVPs, reminders and recordings | Not listed on their plans |
| Gamification | Points, levels and a leaderboard on every plan | Not listed on their plans |
| CRM and contact segments | Every student a contact, with tags and saved segments | Not listed on their plans |
| Automations and workflows | Workflows and broadcasts on every plan | Not listed on their plans |
Prices and features checked on . Plans change, so confirm on Teachable’s own pages before you decide. Sources:
Included on every plan
Everything you get with Achene.
Beyond the headline price, every Achene plan includes a built-in CRM with automations, live classes, community and a leaderboard, so you never pay extra to unlock a feature as you grow.
Get paid
Keep every penny, paid straight to your Stripe account.
- 0% commission on student payments
- Free, one-time and subscription courses, with free trials and bundles
- No payout holds and no annual lock-in
Build your courses
Everything to author, schedule and share your lessons.
- Rich lessons with video, audio and files
- Drip release, free preview lessons and recording in your browser
- A media library and automatic transcripts
Teach live
Classes and events inside your own site.
- Live video classes with your students
- RSVPs, reminders and calendar links
- Recordings saved to your library
Community
A place for students to talk, with the tools to keep it healthy.
- A forum for your whole academy and one for each course
- Points, levels and a leaderboard you can switch on or off
- Pin, lock and moderate, with reply notifications by email
Students and email
Know your students, then reach the right ones.
- Every student becomes a contact, with tags and saved segments
- Broadcasts, branded templates and automations
- Your own sending domain, GDPR tools and one-click unsubscribe
Your brand
Your name on everything, and a great day for your students.
- Your own domain, logo and colours
- Notes pinned to video moments, bookmarks and resume where you left off
- Passwordless sign-in and eight interface languages
Pricing, side by side
All prices in USD. No commission on student payments on any Achene tier.
Teachable plans
Starter
$39/mo- + 7.5% transaction fee on every sale
- Up to 5 courses
- Unlimited students
- Email marketing: Not included
- Community: Not included
- Custom domain: Not included
Builder
$89/mo- Up to 10 courses
- Unlimited students
- Email marketing: Included
- Community: Not included
- Custom domain: Included
Growth
$189/mo- Up to 50 courses
- Unlimited students
- Email marketing: Included
- Community: Not included
- Custom domain: Included
Achene plans
Seed
$14/mo- 0% commission on all sales
- Unlimited courses, unlimited students
- 100 GB video storage
- Unlimited bandwidth
- 2,000 emails/mo
- Live classes: 1,000 minutes/month included
- Community forums: Included
- Email broadcasts: Included
- Custom domain: Included
Taking RootMost popular
$70/mo- 0% commission on all sales
- Unlimited courses, unlimited students
- 500 GB video storage
- Unlimited bandwidth
- 10,000 emails/mo
- Live classes: 5,000 minutes/month included
- Community forums: Included
- Email broadcasts: Included
- Custom domain: Included
Thriving
$140/mo- 0% commission on all sales
- Unlimited courses, unlimited students
- 1 TB video storage
- Unlimited bandwidth
- 20,000 emails/mo
- Live classes: 10,000 minutes/month included
- Community forums: Included
- Email broadcasts: Included
- Custom domain: Included
See what you’d save
Enter your current plan and revenue to see your estimated annual saving with Achene.
Currency
Your estimated annual savings
Teachable annually
$3,168
incl. 7.5% in fees
Achene annually
$840
0% commission
You save
$2,328
Estimates only. Teachable prices are quoted in USD and converted at the same rates as Achene’s price list (£1 ≈ $1.40 ≈ €1.30). Does not include standard Stripe processing fees (2.9% + $0.30), which apply to all platforms.
Why educators move away from Teachable
Teachable Starter charges 7.5% on every sale. On $3,000/month revenue that's $225/month in fees on top of your subscription.
Starter allows 5 products and has no custom domain or email marketing. The first plan with both is Builder at $89/month, which allows 10 products.
Teachable retired its Basic, Pro and Pro+ plans on 15 June 2025 and moved existing schools onto new ones. Many creators complained of steep rises.
Completion certificates and bulk student import both wait for the $189/month Growth plan.
The community feature is in maintenance mode: Teachable is not adding features or fixing bugs, and it is not available to schools that never created one. Teachable points creators to course comments instead.
Teachable scores 3.3 out of 5 on Trustpilot from 1,110 reviews.
Switching from Teachable
- Export your student list from Teachable.
- Import it into Achene as a CSV. Every student becomes a contact you can tag and segment.
- Rebuild your courses in the lesson builder. Video hosting is included on every plan.
- Connect your Stripe account, so payments go straight to you at 0% commission.
- Point your own domain at your school, then email your students to say you have moved from Teachable.
Your next chapter starts here
Your teaching.
Your people.
Your proper home.
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