Podia vs Teachable (2026): Which Fits a Coaching Business?

Podia vs Teachable comes down to what you sell most. Podia is the simpler storefront: courses, downloads, coaching sessions, webinars, a community, a website and email in one place, with unlimited customers on every plan. Teachable is the deeper course school: quizzes, certificates, iOS and Android student apps and stronger checkout tools, but no built-in scheduling for coaching calls. If your income comes mostly from courses, Teachable usually wins. If you sell a mix of small products and a few sessions, Podia is easier. If your income comes from coaching clients through programs, neither was built for that job.

We make Coachful, a coaching platform, so we have a stake in this comparison. We have not run a coaching business on Podia or Teachable ourselves. Everything below about those two tools comes from what each vendor lists on its own pricing and feature pages (checked on October 25, 2026), from an earlier product profile dated September 2026 where noted, and from what public reviewers report. Prices are in US dollars as listed in October 2026.

What is the short answer for each kind of coach?

Pick by the shape of your offer, not by the longer feature list. Here is the quick version before the detail:

• You mainly sell self-paced courses to many students: Teachable. It lists auto-graded quizzes, short answer assessments, certificates (Growth plan), lesson comments, drip content and student mobile apps.
• You sell a little of everything (a mini course, a template pack, a webinar, a few paid calls) and want one simple site: Podia. Its website builder, blog, landing pages, email and community come with every plan.
• You run 1:1 or group coaching programs with sessions, check-ins and habits between calls: neither. Both lack per-client plans, habits and daily check-ins, so you would add a scheduler, a contract tool and a check-in app on top. That is where Coachful fits, and we cover it honestly in its own section below.
• You need the lowest entry price and sell very little yet: Teachable Starter is cheaper per month ($29 billed annually, $39 monthly) than Podia Mover ($42 billed annually, $49 monthly), but Starter takes 7.5% of each sale versus Podia's 5%.
• You want a free trial without a card: Podia offers 14 days with no credit card or plan selection. Teachable lists a 7-day free trial plus a 30-day money-back guarantee and does not state the card requirement on its pricing page.

How do Podia and Teachable compare side by side?

On the criteria that matter most to coaches, Podia is lighter and broader, Teachable is deeper on courses, and neither runs the full client journey. We rank on four things: one login for the whole client journey, delivery between sessions, total stack cost, and setup effort (including a free white-glove build).

The coaching features are where the three split most clearly:

Two lines in that table drive most decisions. The first is the product cap: Teachable counts a coaching offering as a published product, so its Starter plan's five products fill up quickly if you sell a course, a coaching package and a couple of downloads. The second is booking: Podia has a coaching product where, in its words, "clients book, pay, and get what they need without the back-and-forth", while Teachable leans on outside scheduling and video tools for live calls.

How much do Podia and Teachable cost?

Teachable is cheaper to start and dearer at the top; Podia sits in between at every level. Both charge a platform fee only on their entry plan, and both bill payment processing on top of every plan.

Coachful uses flat monthly plans: 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).

Podia's pricing page shows annual prices in the visible block; the monthly-billed prices ($49, $99, $179) appear in the page's structured data. Every Podia plan includes Podia Email up to a subscriber allowance, and Podia's FAQ says that count includes free community and membership subscribers and the email addresses of customers who bought courses or downloads. Extra subscribers are an add-on whose price is not shown, and Podia says it never upgrades you automatically. For a coach who grows a list with a free guide, 100 subscribers on Mover is small. For the full breakdown see our Podia pricing guide.

Teachable shows annual savings of $120, $240 and $600 a year on Starter, Builder and Growth. Its student limits, which used to be capped by plan, are now listed as "Unlimited" on all self-serve plans. The tighter limit is products: 5, 10 and 50. Our Teachable pricing guide goes through each plan in more depth.

When does the entry plan's fee cost more than upgrading?

The platform fee is the hidden cost on both entry plans. A quick way to decide is the break-even point where the fee equals the price difference to the next plan up:

• Teachable Starter to Builder (monthly billing): Builder costs $50 more a month. At 7.5%, the fee on $667 of monthly sales is about $50. Above roughly $667 a month in sales, Builder is cheaper.
• Teachable Starter to Builder (annual billing): the gap is $40 a month, so the break-even is about $533 a month in sales.
• Podia Mover to Shaker (monthly billing): Shaker costs $50 more. At 5%, the break-even is $1,000 a month in sales.
• Podia Mover to Shaker (annual billing): the gap is $42 a month, so the break-even is $840 a month in sales.

What does a year cost at a realistic sales level?

Here is an illustrative example, not a benchmark: a coach selling $2,000 a month ($24,000 a year) through the platform, billed annually. Card processing is left out because both platforms quote the same standard US card rate of 2.9% + 30¢.

At this sales level, both entry plans are the most expensive way to run the business, and Teachable Builder is the cheapest of the six. The numbers shift for coaches, though, because neither Podia nor Teachable includes everything a coaching practice needs. You would still pay separately for a scheduler with calendar sync (on Teachable), video calls, e-signature contracts and a habit or check-in app. Add those to the totals above before you compare.

Which has better course tools, Podia or Teachable?

Teachable does. Its feature table lists auto-graded quizzes, short answer assessments, certificates on Growth, course compliance, lesson comments, drip content and course design templates. Podia covers the basics of selling a course well, but its strength is breadth across product types rather than depth inside a course.

What each vendor lists for courses as of October 2026:

If certification matters (for example, you train other coaches and hand out a completion certificate), Teachable Growth is the clearest fit of the two. If you only need a handful of video lessons with a download, Podia is less to learn. We compared Teachable against another course-first tool in Thinkific vs Teachable, and against Kajabi in Kajabi vs Teachable.

Coachful's course builder handles the same job inside a coaching platform: modules, lessons, drip and completion tracking, with 48 course templates that include quizzes. The difference is where the course lives. It sits next to the client's program, habits and sessions rather than in a separate school. See Coachful's course platform for coaches.

Which handles coaching sessions and booking better?

Podia, by a clear margin, because it has a coaching product type with booking and payment built in. Teachable lets you sell a coaching offering as a product, but our September 2026 profile found no native scheduling or calendar sync, so calls are usually booked through an outside scheduler and held on Zoom or similar.

Neither tool is a practice manager. Based on what each vendor lists, neither has:

• Built-in video calls (both, per our September 2026 profile).
• Coaching agreements with e-signature before the first session.
• Session credits, intake questions on booking, or round-robin assignment across several coaches.
• A client record that keeps notes, goals, check-ins and payments together.
• SMS or WhatsApp session reminders.

That gap matters more the more 1:1 work you do. If you take ten coaching calls a week, you will spend real time stitching a booking tool, a contract tool and your platform together. For a closer look at Podia's coaching side, read our Podia review; for Teachable, see the Teachable review.

For comparison, Coachful's booking pages include availability rules, buffers, minimum notice and time-zone detection, with two-way Google, Apple/iCloud and Outlook sync and built-in video or auto-created Zoom, Meet and Teams links. Email reminders are included, plus SMS (24 hours before) and WhatsApp (1 hour before) once messaging is enabled. Paid sessions and session credits work on the same pages. More on Coachful's scheduling software.

How do website, email and marketing compare?

Podia gives you more of a website; Teachable gives you more checkout tools. Both now cover the basics of selling from your own domain.

Podia lists a website builder with pages, a blog, your own domain, your fonts and colours, plus landing pages, on every plan. Podia Email is included up to 100, 500 or 1,000 subscribers depending on plan. Affiliate marketing, upsells, PayPal and Zapier start on Shaker.

Teachable lists a site builder, built-in email marketing, abandoned cart emails, coupons, upsells, order bumps, bundles and student referrals. Its integrated affiliate program starts on Builder. Removing Teachable branding requires Growth.

What neither lists: multi-step funnels with pixels and UTM tracking, application funnels for high-ticket coaching, or a booking funnel that hands a lead straight into a discovery call. Coaches who sell through a free guide and a discovery call usually end up adding a funnel tool. If funnels are your main growth channel, our Podia alternatives and Teachable alternatives for coaches roundups cover tools built around them.

How do payments and fees work on each?

Teachable runs its own payment system and publishes more of the fine print; Podia uses Stripe, with PayPal from Shaker up. Both charge a platform fee only on the entry plan.

Teachable Payments processing, as listed in October 2026: US cards 2.9% + 30¢, international cards 3.9% + 30¢, PayPal US 3.49% + 49¢, PayPal international 4.99% + 49¢. Teachable also lists a $15 fee per chargeback and an optional BackOffice service at 2% to 2.8% of sales. The Starter plan's 7.5% platform fee comes on top of processing.

Podia lists standard Stripe or PayPal processing of 2.9% + 30¢, with PayPal available on Shaker and Earthquaker only. Mover adds a 5% Podia fee; the higher plans take none.

Coachful works differently. Payments run through the coach's own Stripe Connect or Razorpay account, with a 0% platform fee since August 2026, so only processing applies. It supports one-time payments, subscriptions, payment plans, order bumps, coupons, refunds, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Stripe Tax, with an invoice per transaction plus manual invoices. It does not support PayPal, which matters if your buyers expect it. See Coachful's coaching payment software.

What does the client experience look like on each?

On Teachable, your client is a student in a school, with a mobile app. On Podia, your client is a customer of a storefront, mostly on the web. Neither gives the client a place to track daily habits, answer check-ins or see a plan built for them.

Teachable's iOS and Android student apps are now on every plan, including Starter, which is a real advantage for coaches whose clients watch lessons on their phones. Lesson comments let students ask questions under a lesson, and certificates (Growth) give a sense of completion.

Podia's client side is simpler: customers buy, log in, watch, download, join community spaces and book a session. Our September 2026 profile found no Podia mobile app, so clients use it in a browser.

What clients cannot do on either: log a habit, fill in a morning or evening check-in, see a weekly goal with a progress bar, keep a streak, or find their sessions, program, documents and community behind one login. For courses that is fine. For coaching, it is where client follow-through slips between calls.

In Coachful, the client gets one branded app (your branding inside the Coachful app) with their program, weekly goals, daily tasks, habits, check-ins, streaks, sessions, courses and community. The coach sees each client's status as thriving, active, quiet or at risk, so it is clear who needs a nudge before the next call.

How easy is it to leave Podia or Teachable later?

Both let you export your customer list, but neither makes moving a whole course simple. Check this before you build a large catalogue.

• Teachable (September 2026 profile): students export to CSV, and course and sales reports export to CSV. Video content is downloaded manually; there is no bulk course export.
• Podia (September 2026 profile): contacts export to CSV, customer lists export per product (active enrollments only), and sales and invoices export.

Coachful exports full client data as a ZIP (roster, notes, check-ins, goals, habits, sessions and form responses) and offers a course export. If you move to Coachful, clients, programs and content are imported for you during onboarding. Our guide to delivering online courses without Teachable walks through the move.

Which should you pick: Podia or Teachable?

Pick Teachable for a course-led business, Podia for a light mixed catalogue, and a coaching platform for a client-led practice. Here is how that plays out by coach type.

Pick Podia if...

You sell several small things, want a simple site and email without extra tools, and like knowing customers are unlimited. Podia is also the friendlier trial: 14 days, full access, no card. Its Trustpilot score (4.1 from 153 reviews, October 2026) is higher than Teachable's. Watch the email subscriber caps and the 5% fee on Mover. Pick it over Coachful if your business is a digital product shop with a few calls on the side, you want PayPal at checkout, and you do not need habits, check-ins or contracts.

Pick Teachable if...

Courses are the core of your income and you want assessments, certificates and a student app. Teachable also publishes its processing rates in full, which helps with planning. Watch the five-product cap on Starter (a coaching offering counts as one), the 7.5% fee, and the lack of native scheduling. Its Trustpilot score is 3.3 from 1,110 reviews (October 2026), so read recent reviews on support before you commit. Pick it over Coachful if you sell to hundreds of students, need graded assessments or certificates, and rarely hold live sessions.

If you are also weighing Kajabi, see Kajabi vs Podia.

Is there a third option that beats both for coaches?

Yes, if you coach clients rather than mainly sell courses. Coachful is built for programs, not just products, and it replaces the booking tool, contract tool, check-in app and course platform a Podia or Teachable coach usually adds. It is not the better choice for every reader, and we say where below.

What Coachful is, who it is for, and what it does not do

What it 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. The coach has one login; the client has one branded app.

Who it is for: coaches who deliver programs, not just sessions; solo coaches growing into a small team; coaches replacing 4 to 6 tools. Niche setups exist for life coaches, business coaches, health coaches and others, and the Fitness & Nutrition pack adds a workout builder, nutrition targets and form-check video.

What it does not do: it is not a course marketplace, not HIPAA-certified (no BAA), and not built for clinical records or insurance billing. It has 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 has no Garmin, Fitbit, Whoop or Oura sync, no stock exercise videos, no Salesforce or HubSpot integration and no third-party plugins. Affiliate tracking covers links, clicks, conversions and revenue, but payouts are recorded manually.

How to start: start a free trial, then either build it yourself from templates or ask the team to build it for you at no cost (details below).

Where Coachful beats Podia and Teachable

• Between-session delivery. Multi-week programs with weekly goals, daily tasks, habits, morning and evening check-ins, goals with progress bars and streaks. Neither Podia nor Teachable lists any of these.
• Booking that coaches need. Availability rules, calendar sync, built-in video, session credits, intake questions and round-robin assignment for team session types.
• Contracts. Coaching agreements with e-signature sent before the first call and stored on the client record. See coaching contracts.
• A real client record. Goals, check-ins, habits, notes, intake answers, tags, payments, sessions and an AI briefing per client.
• No platform fee on any plan. 0% since August 2026, so you pay only Stripe or Razorpay processing.
• Community built around programs. Cohort groups are created automatically on program enrollment, with group chat, direct messages, video events and webinars. More on group coaching software.
• ICF hour tracking. Coaching hours and distinct clients are counted against ACC, PCC and MCC thresholds, with an exportable ICF client coaching log. See ICF hour tracking.

Here is a short walkthrough of how programs are built and delivered in Coachful:

Michelle, the built-in AI assistant, works from live practice data. It builds programs, drafts emails and content, summarizes recorded sessions, briefs you before sessions and can give optional private feedback on your own coaching against ICF Core Competencies 3 to 8. Questions and planning are included in your Coachful membership; confirmed builds and changes use AI credits. Coachful also offers an AI Coach: an AI version of you that selected clients can chat with between sessions, configured by you. See AI coaching assistant.

Where Podia or Teachable is the better choice

• Pure course businesses. If you sell to hundreds of students and rarely meet them, Teachable's assessments, certificates and student apps are aimed squarely at you.
• Digital product shops. Podia's 50 to unlimited products with unlimited customers suit a creator selling many small items.
• PayPal buyers. Both Podia (Shaker and up) and Teachable accept PayPal; Coachful does not.
• A student app on the cheapest plan. Teachable lists iOS and Android student apps even on Starter, for coaches whose buyers mostly study on their phones.

A note for health and fitness coaches on any of these platforms: coaching is not treatment. Keep to education, habits and accountability, and refer clients with medical symptoms, eating disorder signs or mental health concerns to a licensed clinician.

Websites and funnels without a separate builder

Coachful includes a section-based website builder with a blog, custom domain, SEO settings, 30 designed homepage templates and an Import website option. Booking, application, lead-magnet and checkout funnels support pixels and UTM tracking, and email covers lists, broadcasts and multi-step sequences with triggers, delays, branching and A/B splits. There is also a link-in-bio page that sells. See the coach website builder.

Why Coachful stands out: a free white-glove service. On every plan, you can open Create > We'll build it for you · FREE and describe what you want: a website, funnel, sales page, program, course outline and written material, coaching flow, form, email sequence, link in bio, lead quiz, webinar or automation. Attach up to 8 reference links and up to 10 files (logos, photos, brand guides, copy, documents; no video files), and the Coachful team builds it inside your own account, usually within about 24 hours. Nothing gets invented: no fake credentials, testimonials or prices, and gaps are left for you to fill. It does not include recording videos, logo design, ad management or ongoing marketing. Recent builds include a five-page site in sage and cream for a menopause and midlife health coach starting from nothing, with every button leading to a free 20-minute consultation, and a somatic coach leaving Kajabi who had the homepage and About page rebuilt and the contact form connected. Read more about the free white-glove service.

For a coach on Podia or Teachable, that is the practical difference in setup effort: instead of rebuilding a site, a sales page and a program by hand, you send the request with your existing links and files. Compare all the tools on our comparison hub, or see the dedicated Teachable alternative page and the overview of Coachful's coaching software.

Frequently asked questions about Podia vs Teachable

Is Podia or Teachable cheaper?

Teachable is cheaper at the entry level: Starter is $39 a month, or $29 billed annually, against Podia Mover at $49, or $42 billed annually. Podia is cheaper at the top, with Earthquaker at $179 against Teachable Growth at $189. Once you factor in entry-plan fees (7.5% on Teachable Starter, 5% on Podia Mover), the cheapest plan depends on how much you sell.

Do Podia and Teachable charge transaction fees?

Only on their entry plans, as listed in October 2026. Teachable Starter takes 7.5% and Podia Mover takes 5%; every higher plan on both is 0%. Payment processing (2.9% + 30¢ for standard US cards on both) applies on every plan, and Teachable lists a $15 chargeback fee.

Can I run 1:1 coaching on Teachable?

You can sell a coaching offering as a product, and it counts toward your product limit. Our September 2026 profile found no native scheduling or calendar sync, so most coaches book calls through an outside scheduler and run them on a separate video tool.

Can I run 1:1 coaching on Podia?

Yes, at a basic level. Podia lists coaching as a product on every plan, where, in Podia's words, clients book and pay "without the back-and-forth". Our September 2026 profile found no built-in video calls, and Podia does not list contracts, habits, check-ins or per-client programs.

Does Podia or Teachable have a mobile app for clients?

Teachable lists iOS and Android student apps on every plan, including Starter. Our September 2026 profile found no Podia mobile app, so Podia customers use it in a browser. Coachful clients use a coach-branded experience inside the Coachful app.

Do Podia and Teachable have free trials?

Podia offers 14 days with full access and no credit card. Teachable lists a 7-day free trial plus a 30-day money-back guarantee, and a pop-up on its pricing page offered a 30-day trial on Builder monthly in October 2026. Teachable does not state whether a card is required.

Which is better for a coach who only sells courses?

Teachable, in most cases. It lists auto-graded quizzes, short answer assessments, certificates on Growth, lesson comments and student apps. Podia is a fine choice if your courses are short and you also sell downloads or webinars.

What is Coachful's free white-glove service?

On every Coachful plan, you can ask the team to build a website, funnel, program, course outline, email sequence or other asset inside your account, usually within about 24 hours. You attach up to 8 links and 10 files, and the team never invents credentials, testimonials or prices. It does not cover video recording, logo design, ads or ongoing marketing.

Can I move from Podia or Teachable to Coachful?

Yes. Export your customer or student list as a CSV from either tool, and Coachful imports your clients, programs and content for you during onboarding. Teachable has no bulk course export (September 2026 profile), so plan time to download course videos.

Is Coachful HIPAA compliant?

No. Coachful is not HIPAA-certified and does not sign a BAA, so it is not meant for clinical records or insurance billing. If you need a BAA, confirm it directly with any vendor before storing health records.