How to Migrate from Teachable Without Losing Students

To migrate from Teachable, export your student list and sales records first, download every lesson video and file you don't hold elsewhere, rebuild your courses and offers on the new platform, then move paying subscribers one by one by sending each a new checkout link before their next Teachable renewal. Only after every subscriber has moved should you cancel their Teachable subscriptions, remove your custom domain and close the school. Done in that order, nobody loses access and nobody gets charged twice.

This guide walks through each step for coaches: what Teachable's help center says you can export, how every Teachable object maps to a coaching platform, a realistic timeline, email copy you can paste, the payment details that trip people up, and a cutover checklist. We make Coachful, so we use it as the destination throughout, but the export, payment and communication steps apply wherever you go.

Why do coaches leave Teachable?

Most coaches leave Teachable because it is built to sell courses, and their business has grown into coaching: calls, check-ins, habits and per-client plans that a course platform does not handle. The reasons below come from what Teachable lists on its own pages and from our September 2026 profile of the product.

• No native coaching back office. Our September 2026 profile found no built-in scheduling or calendar sync, so coaching calls run through a separate booking tool and a separate video tool. There are no client habits, daily check-ins or per-client plans.
• Fees on the entry plan. As listed in October 2026, Starter costs $39 a month ($29 a month billed annually) and takes a 7.5% transaction fee on top of payment processing. The fee drops to 0% on Builder at $89 a month ($69 annually) and Growth at $189 a month ($139 annually).
• Product caps. Starter allows 5 products, Builder 10 and Growth 50. A coach who sells a few courses, a membership, a coaching package and a handful of downloads hits the Starter cap quickly.
• Single admin below Growth. Starter and Builder list 1 admin. A coach adding an assistant or a second coach needs Growth (5 admins).
• Mixed public reviews. Teachable showed a Trustpilot score of 3.3 from 1,110 reviews when we checked on October 25, 2026.

None of this makes Teachable a bad course host. If all you sell is self-paced video courses, it may still fit. The coaches who move are usually the ones running a stack around it: Teachable for courses, a booking tool, a contract tool, a community app and an email tool. For a fuller look at the product, read our Teachable review and the Teachable pricing breakdown.

What can you export from Teachable?

Teachable lets the school owner export users and transactions to CSV, but its help center does not describe a one-click export of whole courses, so lesson videos and files have to be downloaded by hand. Here is what Teachable's help center documents as of October 2026.

Students (the Users page)

Teachable's "Users" help article says school owners can export user data to a CSV file, which is emailed to the owner's address. Larger exports can take a few minutes to arrive. The article also says the file "must be downloaded within 24 minutes of being sent" or it expires. Whether that is a typo for hours or not, open the email and download the file straight away.

According to the same article, the export includes user ID, full name, email, phone number, last login, sign-up date, course count, sign-up source, country (based on the join IP), sign-in count, marketing email opt-out status, affiliate code, billing and delivery address if saved at checkout, and tags.

Sales and transactions

Teachable's transaction history article says the Sales > Transactions view can be filtered and exported, and that the CSV includes every field in the list plus extra detail such as transaction ID, net revenue and payment processor. Export the full history, not just the last year. You will want it for taxes, refunds and for working out who is still on a subscription or payment plan.

Course content and reports

Our September 2026 profile found that course and sales reports export to CSV, while video content is downloaded manually with no bulk course export. Teachable's own pre-cancellation checklist in its "Cancel Your Paid School Plan" article tells owners to "Download any content you don't have stored elsewhere", which points the same way: plan to collect your videos, PDFs and lesson text yourself.

Two things the help center does not describe: moving active student subscriptions to another processor, and moving saved payment methods. We cover how to handle that in the payments section below.

How does each Teachable object map to Coachful?

Most Teachable objects have a direct home in Coachful, a few become something better suited to coaching, and a couple (certificates and student app listings) work differently. Use this table as your rebuild list.

The rows that matter most to coaches are the ones Teachable never had. Once students are clients in Coachful, each one gets a record with goals, check-ins, habits and notes, and a status of thriving, active, quiet or at risk, so you can see who is slipping between sessions.

If you mostly want to keep running courses, our guides on delivering online courses without Teachable and delivering coaching video courses without Teachable go deeper on lesson structure and practice between lessons.

What is the step-by-step migration plan?

Plan for about four to five weeks from first export to closed school, with most of the work in the first two. The longest part is not the rebuild; it is waiting for each subscriber's renewal date so you can move them without a double charge. The schedule below is an example for a coach with a few courses and a small group of paying subscribers; compress or stretch it to fit.

Step 1: Audit what is live

Before you touch anything, write down every product in your school, its price, its pricing type (one-time, subscription, payment plan) and how many active buyers it has. Mark any coupon codes in circulation, because people will try them on the new checkout. This list becomes your rebuild checklist and your subscriber move list.

Step 2: Export and back up

Export the user CSV and the full transaction CSV, then download every lesson video and file. Keep two copies. Teachable's cancellation article warns that it "cannot guarantee content accessibility indefinitely," so treat your local copy as the master from now on.

Step 3: Set up the new home

In Coachful, connect your own Stripe Connect or Razorpay account first, because every offer you build will need it. Then connect Google, Apple/iCloud or Outlook calendar for two-way sync, and choose built-in video or auto-created Zoom, Meet or Teams links for calls. See our coaching payment software and scheduling software pages for how each piece works.

Step 4: Rebuild courses, offers and programs

Recreate each course with the same module and lesson order so returning students recognise it. Then decide whether each course should stay a course or become a program. A course with a weekly coaching call often works better as a multi-week program with weekly goals, daily tasks, habits and morning and evening check-ins, with the course lessons attached. If you are moving from a self-paced course to cohorts, our guide on scaling from 1-on-1 to group coaching covers the offer side.

Step 5: Test like a student

Buy your cheapest offer with a real card, check the receipt and invoice, refund yourself, then book a session and open the client app. Most migration problems show up here: a wrong price, a missing lesson, a calendar that is not syncing, a confirmation email with the wrong sender name.

Step 6: Move students in waves

Send one-time buyers their new login first; they carry no billing risk. Then work through subscribers in order of renewal date. Move clients on 1:1 packages last, ideally at the start of a new package, so their session credits and agreement start clean.

Step 7: Cut over and close

When Teachable shows no active subscriptions or payment plans, take a final export, remove the custom domain (Teachable requires this before you can finalize cancellation), point it to Coachful, and cancel the plan.

Here is how programs are built in Coachful, if you are turning a course into something with more structure:

How do you move payments and subscriptions off Teachable?

Active subscriptions and payment plans do not move automatically from Teachable to any other platform, so each paying student has to start a new subscription on the new platform, and you cancel their Teachable subscription once that is done. This is the part to get exactly right.

Why subscriptions cannot just be carried over

A subscription is an agreement between a customer's saved card and a specific payment account. Teachable's help center does not describe any way to transfer active subscriptions or saved cards to another processor, and its cancellation article says "Any student subscriptions that were canceled must be re-purchased to resume payments." Stripe subscriptions in general do not move between platforms on their own either; a new platform with its own connected account cannot charge a card it was never given. In Coachful, payments run through your own Stripe Connect or Razorpay account, so each subscriber enters their card once at a new checkout.

Do not cancel the Teachable plan first

Teachable's cancellation article says student billing can continue for up to 30 days after your plan ends, and students may still be charged. If you cancel your plan before moving subscribers, someone could be billed by Teachable and then by you in the same month. To end student charges sooner, the article says you must cancel subscriptions yourself from the Sales page. Do that per student, after each one has paid on the new platform.

The subscriber move, one student at a time

1. Create the matching subscription offer in Coachful at the same price and billing interval.
2. Three to five days before the student's next Teachable renewal, send them the subscriber email (template below) with the checkout link.
3. When their Coachful payment arrives, cancel their Teachable subscription from the Sales page the same day.
4. Mark them as moved in your spreadsheet. If they have not paid by the renewal date, let Teachable bill them one more cycle and try again next month, rather than leaving them without access.

If you want to remove any chance of a double charge, give movers a coupon for their first month on the new checkout, or set the new subscription to start on the date their current Teachable period ends. Either way, tell them plainly what will be charged and when.

Payment plans

Students partway through a Teachable payment plan are the trickiest case. The cleanest option is to let the plan finish on Teachable while giving them access to the course in Coachful now. If you need to close Teachable sooner, create a Coachful payment plan for the remaining number of instalments and the remaining balance, send it with a clear note, and cancel the Teachable plan once the first new instalment clears.

Fees you leave behind and fees you keep

Coachful charges a 0% platform fee (since August 2026); you pay only Stripe or Razorpay processing. Stripe Tax, Apple Pay, Google Pay, coupons, order bumps, refunds and an invoice per transaction are included in your Coachful membership. There is no PayPal option, so students who paid through PayPal on Teachable will need to use a card, Apple Pay or Google Pay.

Here is how the monthly cost compares with Teachable and with two other platforms Teachable users often look at, as listed in October 2026.

For a closer comparison of the course platforms, see Kajabi vs. Teachable, Thinkific vs. Teachable and our list of Teachable alternatives for coaches.

What should you tell your students? (email templates)

Send three emails: an announcement about two weeks before the move, a personal email to each subscriber with their checkout link, and a "you're in" email on the day their access opens. Keep each one short and specific about dates and money. Edit the bracketed parts and paste.

Email 1: the announcement (all students, about two weeks before)

Subject: Your courses are moving to a new home on [date]

Hi [first name],

On [date], I'm moving my courses and coaching to a new platform. You'll keep access to everything you've bought, plus [one new thing: weekly check-ins, a community space, booking for calls].

What you need to do: nothing yet. Around [date] you'll get an email with your new login. Your progress notes are saved, and I'll tell you which lesson to pick up from.

If you're on a monthly subscription, I'll email you separately before your next payment so you're never charged twice.

Questions? Just reply to this email.

[Your name]

Email 2: the subscriber move (each subscriber, three to five days before renewal)

Subject: Action needed before [renewal date]: your new membership link

Hi [first name],

Your [membership name] renews on [renewal date]. Instead of renewing on Teachable, please restart it here: [checkout link]

The price stays the same: [price] per [month]. As soon as your new payment goes through, I'll cancel your Teachable subscription so you won't be billed there again. You'll get your new login straight away.

If you'd rather not continue, simply don't use the link and reply to let me know. I'll cancel your Teachable subscription before it renews.

Thank you for being part of this,

[Your name]

Email 3: you're in (on the day access opens)

Subject: You're in: here's your new login

Hi [first name],

Your new home is ready: [login link]. Your courses are under [section name]. You can also use it on your phone: install the Coachful app, sign in with the same email, and you'll see [your brand name].

You were last on [lesson name] in [course name], so start there.

Your old Teachable login will stop working after [closing date].

[Your name]

A note on email rules: messages about a purchase someone already made are largely treated as transactional, but anything promotional must follow CAN-SPAM, including a working opt-out honoured within 10 business days and a valid postal address, according to the FTC's CAN-SPAM compliance guide. Your Teachable export includes each student's marketing opt-out status; keep opted-out students off marketing lists after the import. Rules differ outside the US, so check with an attorney if most of your students are elsewhere.

What happens to your 1:1 coaching clients?

Clients who bought coaching through Teachable get a better setup after the move: a booking page, an agreement signed before the first call, and a client record that tracks their progress between sessions. Move them at the start of a new package where you can.

• Booking. Set availability rules, buffers, minimum notice and time-zone detection, and sell paid sessions or session credits. Reminders go by email, plus SMS 24 hours and WhatsApp 1 hour before once messaging is enabled.
• Agreements. Send a coaching agreement with e-signature before the first call; it is stored on the client record. Our coaching contracts page explains the flow.
• Between sessions. Add goals with progress bars, habits, streaks and morning and evening check-ins, so clients have something to do in the days between calls.
• Intake. Add intake questions to the booking page so new clients answer them before their first session.

What does the cutover checklist look like?

Run through this list in order on cutover week. Every line should be ticked before you cancel the Teachable plan.

According to Teachable's cancellation article, after you cancel, your school is eventually taken offline and students lose access, but content and settings stay intact unless you request deletion or delete your account. That is a useful safety net for a few weeks, not a backup.

What is Coachful, and who is it for?

Coachful is a coaching platform where one subscription covers booking, payments, contracts, program delivery with habits and check-ins, courses, a community, a website with funnels and email, and an AI assistant, with one login for the coach and one branded app for the client. It is built for coaches who deliver programs, not just sessions; solo coaches growing into a small team; and coaches replacing four to six tools. The company is based in Tallinn, Estonia, and shows a Trustpilot score of 4.5 from 21 reviews.

For a coach leaving Teachable, the parts that usually matter most:

• Courses with modules, lessons, drip and completion tracking, plus downloads, videos, books, events and bundles, all delivered into the client's branded home and app. See online course platform for coaches.
• Programs with weekly goals, daily tasks, habits, check-ins and streaks, so a course can become a coached experience.
• Community with a feed, group chat, direct messages, video events, and cohort groups created automatically when someone enrolls in a program. See group coaching software.
• Website and funnels with a blog, custom domain, SEO settings, 30 homepage templates, an Import website option, and booking, application, lead-magnet and checkout funnels with pixel and UTM tracking.
• Email lists, broadcasts and multi-step sequences.
• Michelle, the built-in AI assistant, which works from your live practice data to build programs, draft emails, summarize recorded sessions and brief you before calls. Questions and planning are included in your membership; confirmed builds and changes use AI credits.
• Data you can take with you: a full client data export as a ZIP (roster, notes, check-ins, goals, habits, sessions, form responses) and course export.

What Coachful does not do. It is not HIPAA-certified and offers no BAA, so it is not for clinical record-keeping or insurance billing. There is no PayPal and no permanent free plan. The client app ships under the Coachful listing with your branding, not under your own App Store account. It is not a course marketplace, so it will not send you buyers the way a marketplace might. There are no third-party plugins, and the affiliate program tracks links, clicks, conversions and revenue but records payouts manually rather than sending them.

How pricing works. Plans are flat and monthly; lower plans cap the number of clients, Pro is unlimited, team plans add coach seats, and monthly plans cancel in one click (current plans: Lite: $29/month for up to 5 clients; Solo: $49/month for up to 20 clients; Pro: $99/month with unlimited clients; Studio: $199/month with unlimited clients). If you are moving a larger school with no client cap in mind, the unlimited plan is Pro: $99/month with unlimited clients.

How to start. Start a free trial, connect Stripe or Razorpay, and send a white-glove build request for the pieces you don't want to rebuild yourself. Read more on our Teachable alternative page.

How does the Coachful white-glove import and build work?

Coachful imports your clients, programs and content for you during onboarding, and its white-glove service builds your website, funnels, offers and course outlines inside your own account, free on every plan. For a Teachable migration, that covers most of the rebuild.

Why Coachful stands out: a free white-glove service. From Create > We'll build it for you · FREE (also the "Want us to build it for you?" card on the Website, Funnels, Programs and template gallery pages), you describe what you want built: a website, funnel, offer or sales page, program, course outline and written material, coaching flow, form or worksheet, email sequence, link in bio, lead quiz, event or webinar, or automation. You can attach up to 8 reference links, such as your current Teachable sales pages, and up to 10 files, such as your logo, brand guide, course outline or lesson text. Video files cannot be attached, so keep your downloaded lesson videos ready to upload yourself. The Coachful team builds it inside your account, usually within about 24 hours.

Nothing gets invented. The team will not add fake credentials, testimonials or prices; gaps are left for you to fill. The service does not include recording videos, logo design, ad management or ongoing marketing.

Some recent builds, anonymized: a somatic coach leaving Kajabi had the homepage and About page rebuilt and the contact form connected. A business mentor for beauty professionals got a 12-week mentorship sales page, a free start-up-guide funnel and rewritten follow-up emails. A real-estate and money coach got a year-long cohort program with an application form, an eight-page site and a free nine-day bootcamp funnel. A leadership coach with a Squarespace renewal days away got one clean homepage with a repeated "talk with me" button.

A good request for a Teachable move names each sales page you want rebuilt, links to the live Teachable version, attaches your course outline as a document and says which offer should be the main call to action. Full details are in our guide to the Coachful free white-glove service.

What mistakes should you avoid when leaving Teachable?

The expensive mistakes are all about order: cancelling too early, forgetting the 30-day billing tail, and losing files you assumed Teachable would keep.

• Cancelling the plan before moving subscribers. Student billing can continue for up to 30 days after your plan ends, according to Teachable's help center, which risks double charges.
• Letting the export link expire. Download the user CSV as soon as the email lands.
• Assuming progress transfers. Completion data comes out as a report. Tell students which lesson to pick up from.
• Importing opted-out students into marketing lists. Use the opt-out column in your export.
• Forgetting PayPal buyers. If some students paid by PayPal, warn them that the new checkout takes cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay.
• Leaving old links live. Search your social bios, email signature, podcast show notes and old blog posts for Teachable URLs.
• Rebuilding exactly what you had. A migration is the cheapest moment to add the check-ins, habits or calls your course was missing.

If you are leaving another tool at the same time, our guides on migrating from Kajabi and migrating from a discontinued coaching CRM follow the same order of operations.

Frequently asked questions

How long does it take to migrate from Teachable?

The rebuild usually takes one to two weeks, but moving every subscriber can take up to a full billing cycle, because each one moves just before their own renewal date. Plan for about four to five weeks from first export to closed school. A school with no subscriptions can move much faster.

Can I move my Teachable subscribers' cards to Coachful?

No. Teachable's help center does not describe any way to transfer subscriptions or saved cards, and subscriptions do not move automatically between payment accounts. Each subscriber checks out once on your Coachful offer, which runs on your own Stripe Connect or Razorpay account, and you then cancel their Teachable subscription.

Will my students be charged twice?

Not if you follow the order in this guide. Move each subscriber a few days before their Teachable renewal, cancel their Teachable subscription the same day their new payment clears, and do not cancel your Teachable plan until no subscriptions are left. Teachable says billing can continue for up to 30 days after the plan ends, which is why the plan is the last thing you cancel.

Can I export my courses from Teachable in one file?

Teachable's help center does not describe a bulk course export. Our September 2026 profile found that videos are downloaded manually, and Teachable's own cancellation checklist tells owners to download any content they don't have stored elsewhere. Budget an afternoon or more for this, depending on how many lessons you have.

Does student progress carry over?

Not as live progress. Course reports export to CSV, which gives you a record of where each student was. Use it to tell each student which lesson to resume from in your "you're in" email.

Is the white-glove build service really free?

Yes. The white-glove build service is free on every plan. You send a request from Create > We'll build it for you · FREE with up to 8 reference links and 10 files, and the team builds the site, funnel, offer or course outline inside your account, usually within about 24 hours. It does not record videos, design logos, run ads or invent testimonials or prices.

Can my students still use a mobile app?

Yes. Students install the Coachful client app and see your branding inside it. The difference from Teachable's student apps is that the app ships under the Coachful listing rather than under your own App Store account.

What happens to my Teachable custom domain?

Teachable's cancellation article says you must delete custom domains before you can finalize cancellation and make your Teachable subdomain primary. Do that on cutover day, then point the domain to your new site at your registrar.

Is Coachful a good fit if I only sell self-paced courses?

It can host them, with modules, lessons, drip and completion tracking, but it is built for coaches who deliver programs with sessions, check-ins and community. It is not a course marketplace, so if you rely on marketplace discovery or sell only video courses with no coaching, compare a course-only host first.

Do I need to tell students before I move?

Yes, and early. Send an announcement about two weeks ahead, a personal email to each subscriber before their renewal, and a login email on the day access opens. Promotional emails must also follow CAN-SPAM rules, including a working opt-out.