Platform notes
Podia: plans, fees, limits, and who should shortlist it
Podia is a simple all-in-one storefront for courses, downloads and communities, priced by email subscribers and products. Shortlist it if you are a solo creator selling a small catalog, or a business that wants a website, email and products in one simple tool. Look elsewhere if you sell B2B seats or need SCORM, SSO or client separation, because Podia publishes no B2B layer.
Choose Podia for
- Solo creators who want site, email and products in one tool
- A custom domain included on every plan
- Communities (spaces) without an extra subscription
Look elsewhere if
- B2B training: no published seat selling, SSO or SCORM
- Big email lists: subscriber caps of 100, 500, then 1,000 drive upgrades
- Heavy video catalogs below the top plan (500 then 1,000 videos)
Plans and pricing at a glance
| Plan | Monthly billing | Annual billing | Admins | Fees | Highlights |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mover | $42/mo | $42/mo | 5% transaction fee | website builder and custom domain included; unlimited customers | |
| Shaker | $84/mo | $84/mo | No platform fee | affiliate marketing; upsells; PayPal | |
| Earthquaker | $150/mo | $150/mo | No platform fee | unlimited products and videos; unlimited assistants; affiliate marketing |
The first upgrade lever is the Mover transaction fee. Mover ($42 per month) takes a 5% transaction fee, while Shaker and Earthquaker take none. Stripe or PayPal processing of about 2.9% plus 30 cents applies separately on all plans. Any steady sales volume makes moving off Mover worthwhile to drop the 5%.
The second lever is the email subscriber cap, which is how Podia paces its pricing: 100 subscribers on Mover, 500 on Shaker, 1,000 on Earthquaker. Because Podia bundles email, your list growth alone can force an upgrade even if your catalog does not.
The third lever is catalog and staff caps. Products cap at 50 on Mover and 150 on Shaker, then unlimited on Earthquaker. Assistants go from 0 on Mover to 1 on Shaker to unlimited on Earthquaker, and affiliate marketing and upsells start on Shaker. Note the listing showed 42, 84 and 150 monthly with no annual discount at check time. See the Podia plan comparison.
Where it is strong
- Small catalog, one simple tool. Mover includes a website builder and custom domain with unlimited customers, so a solo creator can run a storefront without stitching tools together.
- Site, email and products together. Podia bundles the website, email and products, which suits a business that wants one simple platform rather than a stack.
- Affiliates and upsells from Shaker. Shaker ($84 per month) adds affiliate marketing, upsells, PayPal, Zapier and 1 assistant, a practical step up for a growing solo business.
- Unlimited scale on Earthquaker. Earthquaker ($150 per month) removes product, video, space and assistant caps for a larger simple catalog.
Compare in Teachable vs Podia and Thinkific vs Podia.
Limits to price in before you commit
- 5% transaction fee on Mover. The workaround is to move to Shaker or Earthquaker, which take no platform fee, once your sales make the 5% exceed the price gap. See fees explained.
- Email subscriber caps drive upgrades. Caps of 100, 500 and 1,000 subscribers mean list growth can force a plan change on its own. Track your list against the cap and model it in the cost calculator.
- No published B2B, SCORM or SSO. If you need any of these, Podia is not the tool. Compare Thinkific or LearnWorlds, or see Podia alternatives.
What is not published
Podia's B2B and enterprise dimensions are not documented. Treat these as absent for those use cases, and confirm anything you would rely on in a demo, in writing.
- B2B seat selling. No published B2B seat selling. Do not plan seat deals on Podia without a confirmed workflow.
- Client spaces and admin roles. Spaces are communities, not client portals, and assistants are staff seats, not client admins. If a client needs its own managed space, confirm whether that is possible at all.
- SCORM. No published SCORM support. Treat it as absent for SCORM catalogs. See SCORM support by platform.
- SSO, white label, API and data separation. SSO is not documented, branding removal terms are not itemized, Zapier is documented from Shaker but a public API is not itemized, and data separation is not documented. Confirm each in a demo using the SSO and client access checklist.
Who should pick it, and who should look elsewhere
Pick Podia if you are:
- A solo creator selling a small catalog who wants site, email and products in one simple tool.
- A small business that values simplicity over B2B depth, ideally above Mover to skip the 5% fee.
Look elsewhere if you are:
- A training company selling B2B seats: Thinkific or LearnWorlds.
- Reliant on SCORM, SSO or client portals: LearnWorlds is the accessible SCORM path.
- An established course business that needs multiple admins and API access: Thinkific.
What it actually looks like
Check Podia against your own numbers
Courses, community, coaching and email in one simple storefront. The only real test is your catalog and your buyers, in a trial or a demo.
Frequently asked questions
Does Podia charge transaction fees?
How is Podia priced?
Can Podia handle SCORM or B2B seat selling?
What does the Podia website builder include?
Keep deciding
Podia plan comparison: Mover vs Shaker vs Earthquaker
Podia priced by email subscribers, not students. The 5% Mover fee, subscriber caps of 100, 500 and 1,000, product caps and when Shaker is worth it.
Teachable vs Podia: what each one caps, and what it costs
Teachable caps products but stores lots of video; Podia caps email subscribers and includes a domain on every plan. Fees: 7.5% vs 5% at entry.
Thinkific vs Podia: scale courses or bundle your whole storefront
Thinkific scales courses and B2B seats with no platform fee; Podia bundles website and email but caps products, videos and subscribers. See the split.
Podia alternatives, chosen by the reason you are leaving
Leaving Podia over email subscriber caps, the 5% Mover fee, missing B2B and SCORM, or video limits? The best alternative per reason, with numbers.