Course app pricing compared (2026)
Alva Courses is a Shopify app that sells and delivers online courses through the Shopify checkout you already run, for $9.99 or $14.99 a month with no fee on your sales. Below, its price sits beside five other Shopify course apps and seven standalone course platforms, compared on subscription, fees on each sale, video hosting and the limits that push you up a tier. Every price was checked on the vendor's own pricing page, help centre or Shopify App Store listing on 9 October 2026.
Shopify course apps start at $9.99 to $29 a month on paid plans, and none lists a fee on your sales; your Shopify plan and card processing come on top. Standalone platforms start at $9 to $179 a month, and four of seven take a cut of each sale on their entry plan. Alva Courses costs $9.99 or $14.99.
What it really costs to sell a course.
Selling online courses costs four things: the platform's subscription, any fee it takes from each sale, card processing, and video hosting when the plan leaves it out. Shopify course apps add the Shopify plan itself, but a store that already sells on Shopify pays that anyway, whichever course app it installs.
Compare the monthly or yearly price of the plan that fits your catalogue, not the cheapest plan listed. Caps on lessons, courses, enrolments and storage decide which plan that is.
Some platforms take a share of every sale on their entry plans: Teachable Starter 7.5%, Podia Mover 5%, Skool Hobby 10% plus 30 cents, and LearnWorlds Starter $5 per paid enrolment.
Every option pays a card processor. Most standalone platforms list US card rates of 2.7% to 2.9% plus 30 cents. On Shopify, the rate depends on your Shopify plan and country, whichever course app you install.
Some plans include tens or hundreds of gigabytes of video storage, some cap each file or count videos, and some leave hosting to you. Long lessons can push you up a tier.
Shopify's own fees apply to every Shopify app
Every Shopify course app runs on top of your Shopify plan and sells through Shopify's checkout, so Shopify's subscription and payment processing apply equally to all of them. Shopify Payments card rates depend on your Shopify plan and your country.
If you take payments through a provider other than Shopify Payments, Shopify adds a third-party transaction fee, and its rate also depends on your plan. Shopify shows local prices by country, so check Shopify's pricing page for yours. They are left out of the totals below because they don't change with the course app you choose.
Shopify course app prices in October 2026.
The six Shopify course apps compared here publish their prices on the Shopify App Store. Paid plans start between $9.99 a month (Alva Courses) and $29 (Tevello), and go up to $199.99 (Courses Plus Enterprise). Three also have capped free plans. None lists a fee on your course sales, and every listing bills in US dollars.
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| App | Entry price | Free plan | Yearly billing | Fee on sales | Video hosting | Limits that push you up a tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alva Courses | Unlimited $9.99/mo; Unlimited Pro $14.99/mo | None; 14-day free trial | $99.99/yr and $149.99/yr | None | Unlimited Pro: 50 GB Alva Video Hosting, no per-video limit. Unlimited: Shopify files (1 GB / 10 min per video) or YouTube, Vimeo and Loom embeds | No caps on courses, members or comments; long or large videos are the reason to move to Unlimited Pro |
| Tevello Courses & Communities | $29/mo (one plan) | Development stores only; 14-day free trial | Not listed | None | 100 GB storage and 500 GB monthly bandwidth | Video beyond the allowance costs extra; no rate is published |
| Courses Plus | Basic $19.99/mo; Professional $79.99; Enterprise $199.99 | Up to 5 lessons per store; 7-day trial on paid plans | $200, $800 and $2,000/yr | None listed | Video hosting on every plan; unlimited storage on paid plans | Lessons per store: 20 on Basic, 100 on Professional. Quizzes and subscriptions start on Professional |
| Inflowkit Courses & Membership | Starter $19/mo; Basic $49.99/mo | Lite: 2 courses, 10 lessons, 100 enrolments, $300 sales cap; 14-day trial on paid plans | $190 and $479.90/yr | None listed | Upload or embed; storage not listed | Starter: 50 courses and 5,000 enrolments. Drip schedules, webinars and bundles need Basic |
| LDT Courses & Communities | Starter $12.99/mo; Business $19.99; Ultra $49.99 | Up to 30 enrolments a month; 7-day trial on paid plans | $129.99, $199.99 and $499.99/yr | None listed; paid plans say "no extra fee" | 50 GB, 300 GB or 1.5 TB by plan, unlimited bandwidth | The free plan's enrolment cap, then storage |
| ShoppyLMS | Basic $14.99/mo; Intermediate $24.99; Advanced $49.99; Pro+ $74.99 | None; 7-day trial on most plans | $119.88, $249.90, $499.90 and $749.90/yr | None listed | 5 GB, 50 GB, 100 GB or unlimited by plan | Courses: 1 on Basic, 5 on Intermediate, 10 on Advanced |
Sources, checked 9 October 2026: Shopify App Store listings for Alva Courses, Tevello, Courses Plus, Inflowkit, LDT and ShoppyLMS, plus Tevello's pricing page for its video allowance and fee policy. "None listed" means the listing names no fee on sales. Each listing says charges are billed in US dollars.
Where the Shopify apps differ on price
Alva Courses has the lowest paid entry price of the six, at $9.99 a month, with no caps on courses, members or comments. Its Unlimited plan has no Alva video storage, though: uploads use Shopify's own files, capped at 1 GB and 10 minutes per video.
LDT Courses & Communities is good value for a large video library. Its $12.99 Starter plan includes 50 GB of storage and its $19.99 Business plan 300 GB, with no cap on courses or enrolments. Its free plan suits stores with up to 30 enrolments a month.
Courses Plus and ShoppyLMS price by catalogue size. Courses Plus caps lessons per store below Enterprise and puts quizzes on the $79.99 Professional plan. ShoppyLMS, which launched on the App Store in May 2026, caps the number of courses below Pro+.
Tevello charges one $29 price for everything, including community spaces, 100 GB of video storage and 500 GB of monthly bandwidth. Inflowkit's $19 Starter plan covers up to 50 courses and 5,000 enrolments, but drip schedules need the $49.99 Basic plan.
Five of the six list yearly billing on the App Store, usually about 17% below twelve monthly payments; Tevello lists monthly billing only. Alva Courses costs $99.99 a year on Unlimited or $149.99 a year on Unlimited Pro.
Coursebox also has a free Shopify app, but it lists courses you host on Coursebox's own platform, which is priced separately; see Alva Courses vs Coursebox. For each Shopify app's features rather than its price, read the best Shopify course apps in 2026.
Standalone course platform prices in October 2026.
Standalone platforms run your courses on their own site and checkout, separate from any Shopify store. Entry plans range from $9 a month (Skool Hobby) to $179 (Kajabi Basic), and LearnDash sells a $259 yearly WordPress plugin licence. Four of the seven take a cut of each sale on their entry plan; Kajabi and Thinkific add one only if you use another payment processor.
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| Platform | Entry price: monthly (billed yearly) | Fee on sales, entry plan | Plan that drops the fee | Card processing | Video hosting | Other limits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kajabi | Basic $179/mo ($143/mo) | None with Kajabi Payments; 2% with another processor where Kajabi Payments is offered (PayPal excepted) | Growth $249 cuts it to 1%, Pro $499 to 0.5% | Kajabi Payments, US: 2.9% + $0.30 on Basic | Included, hosted by Wistia at no extra cost | Basic: 5 products, 2,500 contacts, 2 admin users |
| Thinkific | Basic $54/mo ($40/mo) | None with Thinkific Payments; 5% via Stripe in the US, Canada, UK and EU | Start $109 cuts it to 2%, Grow $219 to 1% | Thinkific Payments, listed at 2.9% | Included; 100 GB of video bandwidth a month on Basic | Basic: 1 site admin, 10,000 current students |
| Teachable | Starter $39/mo ($29/mo) | 7.5% | Builder $89 (0% with Teachable Payments) | US cards 2.9% + 30¢; international 3.9% + 30¢ | Up to 1 TB | Products: 5 on Starter, 10 on Builder, 50 on Growth |
| Podia | Mover $49/mo ($42/mo) | 5% | Shaker $99 ($84/mo yearly) | Stripe or PayPal, 2.9% + 30¢; varies by location | 500 videos on Mover, 1,000 on Shaker, unlimited on Earthquaker | Mover: 50 products, 100 email subscribers |
| LearnWorlds | Starter $29/mo ($24/mo) | $5 per paid enrolment | Pro Trainer $99 ($79/mo yearly) | Your gateway; Stripe and PayPal 2.9% + $0.30 | Unlimited on every plan | Starter: 1 admin, 1,000 active learners a month, paid courses only |
| Skool | Hobby $9/mo (yearly price not shown) | 10% + 30¢ per transaction | Pro $99 cuts it to 2.9% + 30¢ (3.9% above $900) | Included in Skool's fee; you can't use your own Stripe account | Unlimited videos | Unlimited members and courses on both plans |
| LearnDash | Essentials $259/yr (yearly only) | None listed; no per-student fees | Not applicable | Your own Stripe or PayPal account | Not included in the licence | A WordPress plugin: you also pay for WordPress hosting |
Sources, checked 9 October 2026: Kajabi pricing and Kajabi help on video hosting; Thinkific pricing and its support articles on the 2026 price update and the third-party gateway fee; Teachable pricing; Podia pricing; LearnWorlds pricing; Skool pricing and its payments FAQ; LearnDash pricing.
Where the standalone platforms differ on price
The headline price hides the fee. Skool Hobby is the cheapest paid subscription in this comparison at $9 a month, but with its 10% plus 30 cents per transaction, Hobby costs more in total than the $99 Pro plan once you sell more than about $1,268 a month.
Kajabi has the highest entry price, and it bundles a website, email marketing, communities and courses into one subscription, with no Kajabi revenue share. Thinkific Basic, at $54, also takes no fee on sales when you use Thinkific Payments.
Teachable, Podia and LearnWorlds remove their fee on sales on the next plan up. LearnDash works differently: it is a WordPress plugin with no per-student fees, so your website, video hosting and payment processor are separate services you choose and pay for.
Thinkific shows local-currency prices in some regions; its US-dollar prices here come from its support centre's 2026 pricing article. Skool advertises two free months on yearly billing but doesn't show the yearly price, so check their site. Skool's help centre also lists a 30% commission on members Skool's own discovery feature brings you, switched on by default.
For how these platforms compare with a Shopify app beyond price, read Shopify course app vs standalone LMS, or the head-to-head pages for Kajabi, Thinkific, Teachable, Podia, LearnWorlds, Skool and LearnDash.
What a month of course sales costs on each.
Adding each platform's fee on sales to its subscription changes the ranking. In both examples, a small seller with $490 a month in sales and a growing seller with $4,950 pay least on a Shopify course app, if they already run a Shopify store. As sales grow, entry plans with a fee on sales cost more than the plan above.
Assumptions
- Prices are US dollars on monthly billing, as listed on 9 October 2026.
- "Fee on sales" is the platform's own fee. Where a listing names no fee, it shows as $0. Card processing is shown separately because every option pays it.
- Shopify course app totals leave out your Shopify plan, which a store already selling on Shopify pays whichever app it uses. If you don't have a store yet, add it to every Shopify row.
- Standalone platforms use their own payment service where that avoids a fee: Kajabi Payments, Thinkific Payments and Teachable Payments.
- Every sale is under $900, so Skool Pro's 2.9% rate applies.
Example 1: one $49 course, 10 sales a month ($490)
A first course of 12 lessons with short videos, sold 10 times a month at $49. Twelve lessons rule out free plans capped at 5 or 10 lessons, but the course fits LDT's free plan, which allows up to 30 enrolments a month.
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| Option | Total before card processing | Plan you'd need | Subscription | Fee on $490 of sales |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shopify course apps (plus your Shopify plan) | ||||
| LDT | $0 | FreeUp to 30 enrolments a month | $0 | $0 |
| Alva Courses | $9.99 | Unlimited | $9.99 | $0 |
| ShoppyLMS | $14.99 | Basic1 course | $14.99 | $0 |
| Inflowkit | $19 | StarterLite allows 10 lessons and $300 in sales | $19 | $0 |
| Courses Plus | $19.99 | BasicFree allows 5 lessons | $19.99 | $0 |
| Tevello | $29 | One plan | $29 | $0 |
| Standalone platforms | ||||
| Thinkific | $54 | BasicWith Thinkific Payments | $54 | $0 |
| Skool | $61Card processing included | Hobby | $9 | 10% = $49, plus 10 × 30¢ = $3Card processing included |
| Podia | $73.50 | Mover | $49 | 5% = $24.50 |
| Teachable | $75.75 | Starter | $39 | 7.5% = $36.75 |
| LearnWorlds | $79 | Starter | $29 | 10 × $5 = $50 |
| Kajabi | $179 | BasicWith Kajabi Payments | $179 | $0 |
Card processing comes on top of every row except Skool's. At 2.9% plus 30 cents, the US card rate Teachable lists, $490 from 10 sales costs $17.21 to process: 2.9% of $490 is $14.21, plus 10 × $0.30.
At this size, LDT's free plan and Alva Courses Unlimited cost least, if you already have a Shopify store. Without one, add a Shopify plan to those rows, and Skool Hobby's $61 all-in may come out cheaper if all you sell is the course.
LearnDash is left out of the arithmetic because it is a yearly licence: $259 works out at about $21.58 a month, before WordPress hosting and card processing.
Example 2: two $99 courses, 50 sales a month ($4,950)
A growing catalogue: two courses of 15 lessons each, with long lesson videos hosted on the platform, selling 50 times a month at $99. Thirty lessons, two courses, 50 enrolments a month and long hosted video each move some apps up a tier.
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| Option | Total before card processing | Plan you'd need | Subscription | Fee on $4,950 of sales |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shopify course apps (plus your Shopify plan) | ||||
| LDT | $12.99 | StarterFree plan caps enrolments at 30 a month; 50 GB | $12.99 | $0 |
| Alva Courses | $14.99 | Unlimited Pro50 GB Alva Video Hosting for long lessons | $14.99 | $0 |
| Inflowkit | $19 | StarterVideo storage not listed; Basic at $49.99 for drip | $19 | $0 |
| ShoppyLMS | $24.99 | IntermediateBasic allows 1 course; 50 GB | $24.99 | $0 |
| Tevello | $29 | One plan100 GB storage | $29 | $0 |
| Courses Plus | $79.99 | ProfessionalBasic allows 20 lessons | $79.99 | $0 |
| Standalone platforms | ||||
| Thinkific | $54 | BasicWith Thinkific Payments | $54 | $0 |
| Teachable | $89 | BuilderStarter would cost $39 + $371.25 = $410.25 | $89 | $0 |
| Podia | $99 | ShakerMover would cost $49 + $247.50 = $296.50 | $99 | $0 |
| LearnWorlds | $99 | Pro TrainerStarter would cost $29 + $250 = $279 | $99 | $0 |
| Kajabi | $179 | BasicWith Kajabi Payments | $179 | $0 |
| Skool | $257.55Card processing included | ProHobby would cost $9 + $510 = $519 | $99 | 2.9% = $143.55, plus 50 × 30¢ = $15Card processing included |
Card processing at 2.9% plus 30 cents adds $158.55 to every row except Skool's: 2.9% of $4,950 is $143.55, plus 50 × $0.30. Shopify Payments rates depend on your Shopify plan and country, but they are the same for every Shopify app in the table.
At $4,950 a month, Alva Courses costs $14.99 and LDT $12.99 before card processing, while the standalone platforms run from $54 to $179, or $257.55 for Skool Pro with processing included. On every platform with a percentage or per-enrolment fee, the entry plan would cost more than the plan above it.
When a fee on sales costs more than the next plan up
A fee on sales is cheap at low volume and expensive later. These are the monthly sales levels at which each entry plan's fee overtakes the price gap to the next plan, using monthly billing.
| Platform | Entry plan vs next plan | Next plan is cheaper above |
|---|---|---|
| Teachable | Starter $39 + 7.5% vs Builder $89 | About $667 a month in sales ($50 ÷ 7.5%) |
| Podia | Mover $49 + 5% vs Shaker $99 | $1,000 a month in sales ($50 ÷ 5%) |
| Skool | Hobby $9 + 10% vs Pro $99 + 2.9% | About $1,268 a month in sales ($90 ÷ 7.1%; the 30¢ per sale is the same on both) |
| LearnWorlds | Starter $29 + $5 per paid enrolment vs Pro Trainer $99 | 14 paid enrolments a month ($70 ÷ $5); from the 15th, Pro Trainer saves money |
Shopify course apps have no fee on sales to outgrow, so their price changes only with lessons, courses, enrolments or storage. Setting the price of your own course is a separate question, covered in how to price an online course.
How video hosting changes the price.
Video is often what pushes a course seller up a tier. Some plans include tens or hundreds of gigabytes, some cap each video's size or length, and some count videos or bandwidth instead. Check the storage on the plan you'd actually buy against the hours of video you plan to publish.
Shopify course apps
- Alva Courses: Unlimited uploads to Shopify files (1 GB and 10 minutes per video) or embeds YouTube, Vimeo and Loom. Unlimited Pro adds 50 GB of Alva Video Hosting with no per-video limit, for $5 a month more.
- LDT: 50 GB, 300 GB or 1.5 TB by plan, with unlimited bandwidth.
- Tevello: 100 GB of storage and 500 GB of monthly bandwidth; more costs extra, with no published rate.
- ShoppyLMS: 5 GB, 50 GB, 100 GB or unlimited by plan.
- Courses Plus: video hosting on every plan, with unlimited storage on paid plans.
- Inflowkit: upload or embed; the listing gives no storage figure.
Standalone platforms
- Kajabi: hosted by its video partner Wistia at no extra cost.
- Teachable: up to 1 TB of video storage on each listed plan.
- Thinkific: hosting included, with 100, 200 or 400 GB of video bandwidth a month by plan.
- LearnWorlds: unlimited video hosting on every plan.
- Skool: unlimited videos on both plans.
- Podia: 500 videos on Mover, 1,000 on Shaker, unlimited on Earthquaker.
- LearnDash: not included; video lives with your WordPress host or a video service you pay for.
How far 50 GB goes in hours of lesson video, and how Shopify files, embeds and Alva Video Hosting compare on privacy, is covered in how to host course videos on Shopify. Shopify's own per-video cap is explained in Shopify video limits.
Which option costs least for you?
The cheapest option depends on whether you already run a Shopify store, how much you sell and how much video you host. For Shopify sellers, a course app with no fee on sales is usually cheapest. Without a store, a standalone platform's single bill can cost less, especially at low sales volumes.
On paid plans listed on 9 October 2026, Alva Courses has the lowest entry price of the six Shopify course apps checked. It is not the cheapest in every case, as the cards below show.
Alva Courses fits the budget if you…
- Already sell on Shopify and want courses in the same checkout
- Want unlimited courses and members for a flat $9.99 or $14.99 a month, with no fee on sales
- Need up to 50 GB of hosted video without a separate video account (Unlimited Pro)
- Prefer to pay yearly: $99.99 or $149.99
Another Shopify app may cost less if you…
- Take up to 30 enrolments a month and want to pay nothing for the app (LDT's free plan)
- Sell one short course: Courses Plus is free up to 5 lessons, and Inflowkit Lite up to 10 lessons and $300 in sales
- Host far more than 50 GB of video (LDT Business, 300 GB for $19.99)
- Want community spaces and 100 GB of video in one $29 plan (Tevello)
A standalone platform may cost less if you…
- Don't have a Shopify store and only want to sell a course, especially a community-led one at low volume (Skool Hobby)
- Would otherwise pay separately for a website, email marketing and community (Kajabi, Podia)
- Already run a WordPress site and prefer a yearly plugin licence (LearnDash)
Check the fee, not the headline, if you…
- Expect more than about $667 a month in sales on Teachable Starter
- Expect more than $1,000 a month in sales on Podia Mover
- Expect more than about $1,268 a month in sales on Skool Hobby
- Expect 15 or more paid enrolments a month on LearnWorlds Starter
Moving from one platform to another? The Kajabi, Thinkific, Teachable and Tevello alternatives roundups compare the options on features and fit, and the head-to-head pages cover Tevello, Courses Plus, Inflowkit and LDT.
What Alva Courses costs.
Alva Courses costs $9.99 a month on Unlimited or $14.99 a month on Unlimited Pro, each with a 14-day free trial and no free plan. The Shopify App Store listing also offers yearly billing at $99.99 or $149.99 a year, about 17% less than paying monthly. Alva Courses takes no fee on course sales.
| plan | Unlimited $9.99/mo or $99.99/yr | Unlimited Pro $14.99/mo or $149.99/yr |
|---|---|---|
| Fee on course sales | None | None |
| Courses, members & comments | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Quizzes, certificates & drip | ||
| Video uploads | Shopify files, 1 GB / 10 min per video | Alva Video Hosting, 50 GB, no per-video limit |
| YouTube, Vimeo & Loom embeds | ||
| Alva File Storage (10 GB, files up to 500 MB) | — | |
| 14-day free trial |
Shopify bills the plan on your store's bill, and you cancel by uninstalling the app from the Shopify admin. Plan details are on the Alva Courses pricing page and in choose a plan.
Alva Courses suits many kinds of Shopify sellers who teach. See how it works for online educators building a catalogue, and for membership creators who sell recurring access.
Course app pricing: common questions.
Sell courses in your store — from $9.99 a month.
Install Alva Courses from the Shopify App Store, build a course, link it to a Shopify product and place a test order. The 14-day free trial covers both plans, and the price stays the same however many courses you sell.