The decision in one table
| Factor | Teachable | LearnDash on WordPress |
|---|---|---|
| What you buy | Hosted platform subscription | Plugin licence plus your own hosting |
| Published entry price | Starter $29/mo billed annually ($39 monthly) | $350/yr for one site |
| Platform transaction fee | 7.5% on Starter; 0% on Builder and above with Teachable Payments | None from LearnDash; your payment processor still charges |
| Video | Up to 1 TB video storage listed on plans | Separate video host needed |
| Updates, security, backups | Handled by Teachable | Your job or your host's |
| Design and integrations | Within Teachable's features; 1, 3 or 5 third-party integrations on Starter, Builder and Growth | Any WordPress theme or plugin |
Teachable's published plans and fees
Teachable's pricing page, read on 29 October 2026, lists Starter at $39 a month or $29 a month billed annually, Builder at $89 or $69, and Growth at $189 or $139. Starter allows 5 published products and 1 admin, Builder 10 products, and Growth 50 products and 5 admins, all with unlimited students. Teachable's support article lists a 7.5% transaction fee on Starter, charged on the total transaction value including taxes, and 0% on Builder and higher plans when using Teachable Payments.
Card processing is separate on every plan: Teachable lists 2.9% plus 30 cents for US cards and 3.9% plus 30 cents for international cards. Growth adds the option to remove Teachable branding.
| Plan | Monthly | Billed annually (per month) | Transaction fee | Published products |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $39 | $29 | 7.5% | 5 |
| Builder | $89 | $69 | 0% with Teachable Payments | 10 |
| Growth | $189 | $139 | 0% with Teachable Payments | 50 |
What LearnDash costs once it is a whole site
LearnDash's pricing on liquidweb.com listed one site at $350 a year on 29 October 2026, bundled with Kadence, Give and The Events Calendar, and its FAQ says MemberDash memberships are included. Multi-site tiers run from $599 for 10 sites to $999 for 100. The page offers a 48-hour free trial. A 13 October 2026 reading of the same page, recorded in our Teachable migration guide, showed different plan names and prices, so confirm at checkout.
You then add hosting, a payment processor and video. Stripe lists 2.9% plus 30 cents for domestic cards, plus 1.5% for international cards and 1% where currency conversion is needed. For hosting, SiteGround GrowBig is $4.99 a month for the first prepaid year then $29.99, and Kinsta Single 65k, which has 4 PHP threads, is $500 a year billed annually.
Worked example: three years at $20,000 a year
Assumptions: 200 sales a year at $100 each, all US cards, no sales tax, annual billing where offered, prices unchanged at renewal except SiteGround's published renewal rate. Processing on both sides is 2.9% plus 30 cents, or $640 a year. Excludes video hosting for LearnDash, email marketing tools, and your time.
| Setup | Platform or licence (3 yrs) | Hosting (3 yrs) | Transaction fees (3 yrs) | Processing (3 yrs) | 3-year total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teachable Starter | $1,044 | Included | $4,500 | $1,920 | $7,464 |
| Teachable Builder | $2,484 | Included | $0 | $1,920 | $4,404 |
| Teachable Growth | $5,004 | Included | $0 | $1,920 | $6,924 |
| LearnDash + SiteGround GrowBig | $1,050 | $779.64 | $0 | $1,920 | $3,749.64 |
| LearnDash + Kinsta Single 65k | $1,050 | $1,500 | $0 | $1,920 | $4,470 |
What the numbers actually say
Starter only makes sense at low revenue. Builder costs $480 a year more than Starter on annual billing, and 7.5% of sales equals $480 at $6,400 a year, so above roughly $6,400 in annual sales Builder is cheaper.
LearnDash on GrowBig saves $654.36 over three years against Builder, about $18 a month, before you pay for video hosting. If keeping WordPress, LearnDash and plugins updated, backed up and tested takes more than about an hour a month of time you value at $18 an hour, the saving is gone. LearnDash on Kinsta costs $66 more than Builder over three years before video, so you would choose it for control, not price.
Who should stay hosted, and who should move
- Stay on Teachable if you want no server, plugin or backup responsibilities, rely on its included video storage, and fit within 10 or 50 published products.
- If most buyers pay with international cards, Teachable lists 3.9% plus 30 cents, while Stripe's standard pricing is 2.9% plus 30 cents plus 1.5% for international cards (4.4% plus 30 cents) and 1% more if currency conversion is needed.
- Choose LearnDash if you need a custom design, deep WordPress integrations, your own data in your own database, or more products than Teachable's plan limits.
- Choose LearnDash only if someone will own updates, staging tests and backups; budget a host with staging and daily backups from the start.
- If you are moving an existing Teachable school, read our migration guide first for what Teachable documents as exportable and what has no export path.
Questions before you decide
Does Teachable charge a transaction fee on every plan?
No. Teachable lists 7.5% on Starter and 0% on Builder and higher plans when using Teachable Payments. Card processing of 2.9% plus 30 cents for US cards applies on every plan.
Is LearnDash cheaper than Teachable?
In our $20,000-a-year example, LearnDash on SiteGround GrowBig was $654.36 cheaper than Teachable Builder over three years before video hosting and maintenance time, which can easily close the gap.
Does LearnDash include hosting?
No. LearnDash is a WordPress plugin, so you buy hosting separately; its pricing page says it is especially well suited to high-traffic learning sites when paired with managed WordPress hosting.
Sources & verification
Product details and prices can change. Check the linked provider before buying.
- Teachable: Pricing Accessed 29 Oct 2026
- Teachable: Teachable Pay (fees by plan) Accessed 29 Oct 2026
- LearnDash: Pricing on liquidweb.com Accessed 29 Oct 2026
- Stripe: Pricing Accessed 29 Oct 2026
- SiteGround: Shared hosting features and plan comparison Accessed 29 Oct 2026
- Kinsta: Pricing Accessed 29 Oct 2026
- Kinsta Docs: PHP threads and memory by plan Accessed 29 Oct 2026
Sources link directly to providers. Product buttons may use separately labeled affiliate links. Read our disclosure.