Comparisons
Teachable vs LearnDash: hosted selling or WordPress ownership
vs
Teachable is a hosted platform built for creators selling courses and digital products, starting at $29 per month on annual billing with a 7.5% transaction fee on that entry plan. LearnDash is a WordPress plugin, a flat $259 a year license with no published transaction fee, but you run the WordPress site yourself. Pick Teachable for a hosted storefront with less setup; pick LearnDash if you already run WordPress and want to keep every dollar of a sale.
Our pick for a hosted storefront
No server to run, hosted support, and a simple setup for selling courses and digital products.
See pricing →Choose LearnDash if
You already run WordPress and want no transaction fee on any license.
See pricing →Side by side
Teachable bills monthly and takes a transaction fee on its entry plan. LearnDash bills once a year for the license, with hosting separate.
| Plan | Monthly billing | Annual billing | Admins | Fees | Highlights |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $39/mo | $29/mo | 1 | 7.5% transaction fee | 7-day free trial; no custom domain |
| Builder | $89/mo | $69/mo | 1 | No platform fee | custom domain; affiliate program for your school |
| Growth | $189/mo | $139/mo | 5 | No platform fee | remove Teachable branding; 5 admin users |
| Custom | Custom pricing | Custom pricing | custom | No platform fee | contact sales |
| License | Price per year | Sites | Highlights |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essentials | $259 | 1 | course and quiz builders; memberships and subscriptions; Stripe and PayPal; certificate builder |
| Pro | $399 | 1 | AI course outline and quiz builder; advanced reporting; enrollment tracking; custom report cards |
| Elite | $599 | 1 | group course management; sell seats; instructor role; multi-instructor management |
The decision lines
Fees. Teachable Starter ($29 per month on annual billing) takes a 7.5% transaction fee on every sale; Builder and Growth publish no transaction fee. LearnDash publishes no transaction fee at any license; you keep what you charge, minus your own payment processor's standard rate.
Total cost. Teachable Starter runs about $348 a year hosted. LearnDash Essentials is $259 a year for the license alone; add WordPress hosting before comparing totals directly.
B2B and group selling. Teachable publishes no group or seat-selling workflow for companies at any plan. LearnDash opens group course management and seat selling on the Elite license at $599 a year, so for B2B seat sales LearnDash is the documented option.
Product caps. Teachable caps products per plan: 5 on Starter, 10 on Builder, 50 on Growth. LearnDash's license does not cap courses or learners at all, on any tier.
Ownership and support. Teachable hosts everything with support included. LearnDash gives you the WordPress site outright, self-supported by default.
Which one for your situation
- You want a hosted storefront with less setup: Teachable. No server, no plugin updates.
- You want to keep the full sale price with no transaction fee: LearnDash. No published transaction fee on any license.
- You sell B2B seats to companies: LearnDash Elite at $599 a year is the documented option; Teachable publishes no group-selling workflow.
- You need more than 50 products and want it hosted: Teachable Custom, quote based; LearnDash has no product cap on any license.
What neither publishes
Confirm these before you rely on them:
- Teachable SCORM, SSO and per-client data separation; none are documented on the pricing page, so treat them as absent unless sales confirms otherwise.
- LearnDash SCORM and SSO depend on third-party WordPress plugins you add and evaluate yourself, not on the license.
Take the next step
What the two products actually look like
Frequently asked questions
Does Teachable charge a transaction fee?
Can I sell B2B seats on Teachable?
Which is cheaper, Teachable or LearnDash?
Does LearnDash cap the number of courses or students?
Keep deciding
Teachable: plans, fees, limits, and who should shortlist it
Teachable plans, the 7.5% Starter transaction fee, product caps of 5/10/50, thin B2B features, and the free trial. What to shortlist it for and what to confirm.
LearnDash: licenses, ownership, limits, and who should shortlist it
LearnDash license tiers, full ownership on WordPress, group selling on Elite, and the self-hosting reality: updates, backups and support are yours.
Hosted LMS vs WordPress LMS: ownership and total cost
SaaS subscription versus a LearnDash license plus hosting, updates and backups. The yearly cost, the responsibility split, and who owns your data.
LMS transaction fees explained
The three fee layers on course platforms: card processing, platform transaction fees, and the break-even math for when a fee-free plan beats a cheap one.