Systeme.io or Teachable: which lets a UK coach sell a course for less?
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Quick summary
Start on Systeme.io. Pay for Teachable when the course player, the student apps and the tax handling are the product, and the monthly bill is acceptable.
Best for a UK coach or course creator who wants to sell before paying a subscription, or who also needs a funnel and email in the same login: Systeme.io. The free plan is $0, needs no card, and the visible FAQ says it does not expire. It covers 2,000 contacts, 3 sales funnels, 1 course and unlimited email sends. Paid plans start at $17 a month (Startup). Systeme.io says every plan has 0% transaction fees. We earn from Systeme.io.
Best for a school that wants iOS and Android student apps, checkout tax handling, and a course product as the whole business, and can pay at least $39 a month: Teachable. There is no free plan. The plan cards and the FAQ advertise a 7-day free trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee. Starter is $39 a month, or $29 a month billed annually, with a 7.5% transaction fee. Builder, the first card with a 0% transaction fee, is $89 a month, or $69 billed annually. We do not earn from Teachable.
| When | Named in the article |
|---|---|
| You have one course, under 2,000 contacts, and you want to pay nothing while you find out if it sells | Systeme.io, free plan |
| You want 0% platform transaction fees on the first sale | Systeme.io, including the free plan |
| You want iOS and Android student apps and checkout tax tools on the published cards | Teachable, from Starter |
| You want Teachable’s 0% transaction fee | Teachable Builder, $89 a month, or $69 billed annually |
| You want to remove Teachable branding, course certificates, and an affiliate programme on the cards we read | Teachable Growth for branding and certificates. Affiliates are listed from Builder |
| Your business is a weekly newsletter, and the course is a side door | Look at beehiiv first, linked below |
The short version
Teachable is a course school: products, a student app, checkout, and tax tools. Systeme.io is an all-in-one: the course sits next to funnels, email, a simple affiliate programme and checkout. The bill is the first difference. Systeme.io’s free plan is $0 and its top published plan is $97 a month. Teachable’s cheapest card is $39 a month, and the 0% transaction-fee card is $89 a month.
The second difference is the cut on a sale. Systeme.io’s pricing page says 0% transaction fees on every plan, and that you accept Stripe or PayPal at no extra cost from Systeme.io. Teachable’s Starter card charges 7.5%. Builder, Growth and Custom drop that to 0% when you use Teachable Payments. Payment processors still charge their own fees on both sides. Teachable prints those processing rates. Systeme.io’s pricing page does not.
What public reviews say
Both sets of figures are from Capterra, read on 1 November 2026. They are other people’s reviews. They will move.
| Capterra | Systeme.io | Teachable |
|---|---|---|
| Overall | 4.8 out of 5 from 2,132 reviews (Capterra page, last updated 29 September 2026) | 4.2 out of 5 from 185 reviews (Capterra page, last updated 21 October 2026) |
| Ease of use | 4.6, on the reviews page | 4.2, on the reviews page |
| Value for money | 4.9 from 2,028 reviews | 3.7 from 147 reviews |
| Customer service | 4.8 from 2,076 reviews | 3.8 from 131 reviews |
| Trustpilot and G2 | Not included. Trustpilot refused our fetch (403) and G2 was not read, so no figure is given. | |
Systeme.io’s sample is much larger. Teachable’s rating filter on the same product page lists 105 reviews at 5 stars, 46 at 4, 18 at 3, 5 at 2 and 11 at 1, which adds up to the 185.
“It centralizes our marketing needs, streamlining campaigns, lead management, and result analysis, saving us time and ensuring effective reach to our target audiences.”
Marcin J., freelancer, quoted in the pros and cons summary on Systeme.io’s Capterra page.
“My main issue: as someone with absolutely NO EXPERIENCE in coding or computer programming, I found the domain implementation downright impossible without asking for outside help.”
Nicole F., owner, on the same Systeme.io Capterra page. Domain setup is one of the complaints flagged in that summary.
“The platform itself is intuitive and powerful, bringing together everything I need in one place, from course hosting to email marketing and automations. It’s a huge relief not to juggle multiple tools anymore.”
Monika H., business owner, E-Learning, Capterra, 3 September 2025. Overall rating 5.0. The same review lists Teachable under “Switched from”, with the line “extremely poor customer service, lots of tech issues, expensive”. The cons say there is no option to add a discount code to a digital store.
“I’ve had a very positive experience with Teachable overall. It made it easy to create and sell online courses without needing a lot of technical knowledge.”
Gabby W., founder, E-Learning, self-employed, Capterra, 9 April 2026. Overall rating 5.0, likelihood to recommend 9 out of 10. The same review’s cons say the lower-tier plans include transaction fees, and that the community and email marketing features are fairly basic.
“Overall teachable is a great platform for course creators that already have a core audience to sale to but if you are new the price might be alot to swallow.”
Anonymous, Capterra, 14 September 2025. Overall rating 4.0. Spelling in the quote is the review’s.
“Overall they lack crucial tools for building a business. They are decent if you want to create a school for a hobby (I don't know the pricing compared to other options), but now that we grew our school to be a business, they are severely lacking (support, analytics, comments...)”
Alexandre N., Responsable Opérations, Capterra, 20 June 2025. Overall rating 1.0.
What you actually get
Checked 1 November 2026 on Systeme.io’s pricing page and Teachable’s pricing page. Student fees for Teachable are from Teachable’s usage-fees page, last updated 28 September 2026. The free-plan sales cap for Systeme.io is from Systeme.io’s subscription help, last updated 7 October 2026. Prices are US dollars, as both pricing pages show them.
| Systeme.io | Teachable | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes. The visible FAQ: 2,000 contacts, 3 sales funnels, 1 blog, 1 course, 1 affiliate programme, 1 custom domain, unlimited email sends, no card. It also says the free plan never expires, with lower limits such as 1 automation rule, 1 email campaign and 500 students. | No free plan. The FAQ says Teachable is a paid service. |
| Trial and guarantee | The visible FAQ does not advertise a trial, because it describes the free plan as permanent and with no card. The yearly-billing control is badged “2 months free”. The FAQ does not print an annual dollar total. | The plan cards and the FAQ say a 7-day free trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee. The same page’s HTML also contains a signup link whose label is “Start 30-day trial”. Those two trial lengths do not match. Confirm the length on the order form before you enter a card. |
| Plans, as shown on the cards | Free $0 (2,000 contacts, 3 funnels, 1 course). Startup $17 a month (5,000 contacts, 10 funnels, 5 courses). Webinar $47 a month (10,000 contacts, 50 funnels, 20 courses, plus evergreen webinars). Unlimited $97 a month (unlimited contacts, funnels, courses and automation rules). | Starter $39 a month (5 products, 7.5% transaction fee). Builder $89 a month (10 products, 0% transaction fee, affiliate programme, real-time support). Growth $189 a month (50 products, 0% transaction fee, affiliate programme, real-time support, course certificates, remove Teachable branding, imported students, custom admin permissions, free subtitles and translations). Custom has no public price. The card says to book a call, and the page asks people selling more than $12k a year to contact sales. |
| Billed annually, as shown on the cards | No annual dollar figure in the FAQ text we read. The yearly control is badged “2 months free”. | Starter $29 a month (the card also shows $39, and “Save $120”). Builder $69 a month (the card also shows $89, and “Save $240”). Growth $139 a month (the card also shows $189, and “Save $600”). The FAQ says annual billing saves 22%. |
| A second set of prices on Teachable’s page | Not applicable. The dollar figures in Systeme.io’s FAQ match the plan names above. | The page’s schema.org offers list Starter at $59 a month and $39 a month yearly, Builder at $119 and $89, and Growth at $239 and $189. Those figures do not match the cards, and they do not match the “Save $120 / $240 / $600” lines. The Starter schema description also names course certificates, which the Starter card we read does not list. This article uses the cards. Read the order form. |
| Platform transaction fee | 0% on every plan, including free. The page says you can accept Stripe or PayPal at no extra cost from Systeme.io. It does not publish Stripe’s or PayPal’s own processing rates. | Starter 7.5%. Builder, Growth and Custom 0% when you use Teachable Payments. The FAQ says standard payment processing fees may still apply. |
| Processing fees printed on the pricing page | None printed. | Under “Additional plan information”: US credit and debit cards 2.9% + 30¢, international credit and debit cards 3.9% + 30¢, US PayPal 3.49% + 49¢, international PayPal 4.99% + 49¢, chargeback fee $15, optional BackOffice fee 2-2.8%. The page does not say which of those rows a UK school pays. Teachable’s fees help article returned 401, so it is not used here. |
| Students | The visible FAQ caps the free plan at 500 students. It does not state a student number for Startup, Webinar or Unlimited. A line on the same page says other platforms limit the number of students you can have. | On the current usage-fees policy, a student who pays more than $0 through Teachable’s native gateway or a custom payment gateway is included at no student fee, with no limit stated. Students added any other way, including free and $0 checkouts, share an allowance of 100 per school, then $0.50 a month each above 100, on every plan. You are not blocked at 100. Schools created before 3 September 2026 stay on the legacy schedule until their first renewal on or after 30 April 2027, unless they move earlier. The legacy section says plans include from 100 to 5,000 active students and does not assign a number to Starter, Builder or Growth. Legacy overage rates are in the offer section. |
| Video storage | Not stated as a gigabyte figure in the FAQ text we read. | The usage-fees page says every plan includes 1,000 GB, then $15 a month per additional terabyte. |
| Unlimited sends on every plan, including free. | The pricing table has a “Built-in email marketing” row. The cell values did not come through as text, so this article does not state a send limit. Gabby W.’s review, above, calls the email tools basic. | |
| Your own affiliate scheme | Listed for all plans. The free plan includes 1 affiliate programme. | Listed on the Builder and Growth cards. The Starter card we read does not list it. |
| Student apps and tax tools | Not listed on the pricing FAQ we read. | All three priced cards list iOS and Android student apps, and global payments and taxes. A tooltip on the tax line says Teachable Payments covers calculation and remittance of US sales tax, EU VAT and Canadian GST. The tooltip does not name UK VAT. |
| Sales cap on the free plan | The help article says free accounts have a lifetime sales limit of $10,000 USD. A warning appears at $8,000. At $10,000, payment pages stop accepting new sales until you upgrade. Affiliate commissions you earn are excluded. The visible FAQ does not mention this cap. A structured-data FAQ on the same pricing page does, and it also says accounts with no login or activity for 6 months are deactivated. The help article we read does not mention that 6-month rule. | No free plan, so no free-plan sales cap. |
The offer
Systeme.io: free plan, $0, no card, up to 2,000 contacts and 1 course, with the 500-student limit and the $10,000 lifetime sales cap above. Startup is $17 a month. The yearly control is badged “2 months free”. Open a free Systeme.io account.
Teachable: no free plan. The cards and the FAQ say a 7-day free trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee. Starter is $39 a month, or $29 a month billed annually, with a 7.5% transaction fee. Builder is $89 a month, or $69 billed annually, with a 0% transaction fee when you use Teachable Payments. Teachable’s pricing page.
What the gap looks like over a year, using only the card prices, and labelled as our arithmetic. Systeme.io Startup is $17 × 12 = $204. Teachable Starter on monthly billing is $39 × 12 = $468. Teachable Starter on the annual card is $29 × 12 = $348. Builder monthly is $89 × 12 = $1,068. Builder annual is $69 × 12 = $828. The “Save $120”, “Save $240” and “Save $600” lines match those card gaps: $10, $20 and $50 a month, times 12. The FAQ’s “saves you 22%” matches Builder’s card more closely than Starter’s or Growth’s. On the cards, $29 is 25.6% below $39, $69 is 22.5% below $89, and $139 is 26.5% below $189. Your card issuer may still add a conversion charge.
The 7.5% on Teachable Starter is separate from the subscription. If you sold £1,000 of courses in a month, 7.5% is £75 to Teachable, before the processing rate on the pricing page and before the $39. Systeme.io’s own fee on that £1,000 would be $0 on the pricing page’s 0% rule. Stripe or PayPal can still charge you. This article does not have Systeme.io’s processor rates.
Teachable’s legacy overage rates, for schools still on that schedule: active students $0.10 a month each on Starter and Builder, and $0.05 on Growth and Advanced. Imported students $1.50, $1.00, $0.75 and $0.50 a month on those four names. Published products above 100 are $199 a month for every extra 50, on the legacy schedule. The current-policy section we read does not repeat that product fee. The legacy table says “Advanced”. The pricing cards say “Custom”. The page does not say those are the same plan, so this article does not treat them as the same plan.
Teachable’s usage-fees page says that, at the time of drafting, more than 80% of customers do not incur any usage fees. That is Teachable’s sentence, dated in the document as last updated 28 September 2026. It is not a figure Occono measured.
Which one fits you?
A Bristol yoga teacher with one £47 course and about 200 people on a list. Systeme.io’s free plan covers the course, the list and the checkout at $0, with a 0% platform fee, until the 500-student cap or the $10,000 lifetime sales cap gets in the way. Teachable Starter would be $39 a month plus 7.5% of each sale. Systeme.io.
A Cardiff bookkeeper selling a self-assessment course at £197, expecting about 15 sales a month. Fifteen sales is £2,955. Teachable’s 7.5% on that is £221.63, on top of $39, using only the Starter card. Moving to Builder to drop the 7.5% costs $89 a month, or $69 billed annually. Systeme.io Startup at $17 a month covers 5 courses and 5,000 contacts with a 0% platform fee, if the list is past 2,000 people. Under 2,000 contacts, the free plan still applies until lifetime sales pass $10,000. Systeme.io, unless the student app is the reason you are buying.
A Glasgow language tutor who wants students to open lessons in an iPhone app, and who sells to people in several countries. Teachable’s three priced cards all list iOS and Android student apps, and the tax tooltip names US sales tax, EU VAT and Canadian GST. It does not name UK VAT. Systeme.io’s pricing FAQ does not list a student app. If the app and the tax handling are the reason for the bill, Teachable Starter is the published starting point, and you still pay the 7.5% until Builder. Price that 7.5% against a year of sales before you stay on Starter.
A Norwich consultant who wants other people to sell the course for a commission. Systeme.io includes an affiliate programme on the free plan. Teachable lists affiliates from Builder, at $89 a month or $69 billed annually. Systeme.io, unless you already need Teachable for the reasons above.
A writer whose real product is a weekly newsletter, with a short course attached. Have a look at beehiiv and our beehiiv vs Substack comparison before you pay for a course school.
Someone already on Teachable who wants each sale copied into a spreadsheet or into their accounts. That job is an automation, not a reason to change course platform by itself. Make can sit beside either platform. Our Make vs Zapier guide is the page for that bill.
Where Teachable is the better buy
When the course is the business, and you want the student apps and the payments-and-tax line that Teachable prints on every priced card. Reviewers who like it talk about the course builder and checkout. Reviewers who leave talk about the price, support, and tools that feel thin once the school is a real business. Growth, at $189 a month or $139 billed annually, is the card that adds certificates and removal of Teachable branding. If those extras are the point, and the subscription is a small line in the accounts, Teachable is the fit. Confirm the trial length and the dollar amount on the order form, because the page disagrees with itself.
Where Systeme.io is the cheaper buy
For a UK sole trader who is still proving the course, and for most people under 2,000 contacts. You can put the course, the checkout and the emails on the free plan, and move to Startup at $17 a month when the list, the student cap or the $10,000 sales cap says you have to. You also get the funnel and the email tool in the same login, which is the gap Gabby W. flags on Teachable.
Related comparisons: Systeme.io vs Thinkific, Systeme.io vs Podia, Systeme.io vs Kajabi and Systeme.io vs Kartra.
Before you move students off Teachable, export the student list and note which people were imported rather than sold through Teachable checkout. On the current usage-fees page, those two groups are billed differently, and the export is the record you will need if a fee appears.
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Update details
- — Published. Prices taken from the plan cards. Teachable’s schema.org prices on the same page are recorded and not used.