Packaging what you already know into a course is one of the few ways freelance expertise turns into income that doesn't require trading more hours for more money. The platform decision matters more than it might seem: identical content sold on different platforms can produce meaningfully different revenue once transaction fees, product limits, and marketing tools are accounted for. Worth flagging upfront: both Podia and Teachable removed their free plans in 2024-2025, which shifts the realistic starting point for a freelancer testing the idea before committing to a paid tier.
Coming from a consulting background, I tend to weigh pricing structure and long-term cost more heavily than a feature checklist.
What actually matters for a first course
- Transaction fees vs. flat subscription cost — a lower monthly price with a real transaction fee can cost more than a higher flat price once you're selling at any real volume; the math is worth doing at your expected revenue, not just comparing sticker prices
- Product limits on entry-level plans — some platforms cap you at one course on the cheapest tier, forcing an upgrade the moment you want to add a second product
- Whether email marketing is included — a platform without native email marketing means budgeting for a separate tool like Kit or Beehiiv (covered in our newsletter tools guide) on top of the course platform itself
- Live video support — most platforms are built for pre-recorded, self-paced courses; live cohort sessions or office hours typically require a separate video tool regardless of which platform you choose
Quick comparison
| Platform | Free tier | Transaction fee (entry plan) | Product limit (entry plan) | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thinkific | Yes, unlimited courses/students | 0% | None on free plan | Testing the idea at zero cost before paying for anything |
| Podia | No (removed 2024) | 5% (Mover plan) | Unlimited from day one | Solo creators who want courses + downloads + email in one place |
| Teachable | No (removed 2025) | 7.5% (Starter plan) | 1 course on Starter | Creators who want strong native sales/marketing tools |
| Kajabi | No | 0% | Unlimited | Freelancers ready to run a full teaching business, not just a first course |
Thinkific — the strongest way to test the idea for free
Thinkific's free plan is unusual in this category for including unlimited courses and unlimited students with a genuine 0% transaction fee, rather than a capped trial — a meaningful advantage for a freelancer who isn't sure yet whether course income is worth pursuing. The trade-off shows up as you scale: its own email marketing and sales-funnel tools are thinner than Podia's or Kajabi's, so a growing course business will likely need to add a separate email tool eventually.
Best for: freelancers who want to build and test a first course without committing any money until they know it's worth pursuing.
Podia — simplest all-in-one for a solo creator
Podia bundles courses, digital downloads, coaching, community, and native email marketing into one dashboard with no product limits on its entry Mover plan (around $33/month, with a 5% transaction fee). For a freelancer who wants to sell a course alongside a template pack or a coaching offer without stitching together three separate tools, that breadth is the main draw. Its course features are comparatively thin — no quizzes with scoring, no drip-scheduled content, no native video conferencing for live sessions — which matters if structured assessment is part of what you're selling.
Best for: freelancers who want courses, downloads, and email marketing together in the simplest possible interface, and don't need structured quizzes or drip content.
Teachable — strongest native sales tools, at a real transaction-fee cost
Teachable's advantage is sales infrastructure: native iOS/Android student apps (which Podia doesn't offer at all), built-in affiliate marketing, and checkout optimization features like order bumps and abandoned-cart recovery. The real cost is its Starter plan's 7.5% transaction fee combined with a hard 1-product cap — a lot of first-time buyers upgrade unexpectedly the moment they try to add a second course. At meaningful sales volume, that fee alone can exceed what a flat-rate competitor like Thinkific would have charged for the same revenue.
Best for: creators who specifically want native mobile apps and built-in affiliate/checkout tools, and expect course revenue to justify the transaction fee.
Kajabi — the premium all-in-one for a real teaching business
Kajabi costs meaningfully more than the others here (roughly $249/month at its Basic tier) but includes email marketing, sales funnels, and zero transaction fees in that price — for a freelancer generating enough course revenue that the flat cost is clearly justified, some comparisons have found it produces the highest net revenue per student of the major platforms specifically because nothing is taken as a percentage. It's a hard platform to justify for a first, unproven course; it makes more sense once you already know the content sells.
Best for: freelancers who've validated course demand already and are ready to run teaching as a real part of their business, not just test the concept.
A cheaper way to test before committing to any platform
Before building a full course on any platform, some experienced creators validate demand first on a marketplace like Udemy (zero setup cost, built-in traffic, but a revenue share and no ownership of your student list) or by pre-selling a lower-ticket version through a simple checkout tool. The pattern worth noting: creators who succeed long-term tend to start with minimal platform investment, confirm the content actually sells, and only then move to a platform they fully own once there's real revenue data to justify the switch.
Bottom line
If you're not yet sure a course is worth the effort, Thinkific's genuinely free, unlimited tier is the lowest-risk way to find out. Once you know it works, Podia is the simplest all-in-one for a solo creator with a modest budget, Teachable is worth its transaction fee if native mobile apps and affiliate marketing matter to your sales strategy, and Kajabi becomes the better economic choice once revenue is high enough that its flat fee beats everyone else's percentage cut.
Pricing, transaction fees, and free-tier availability in this category change often — several major platforms removed free plans in 2024-2025 alone. Confirm current terms directly on each provider's site before committing.