Leaving Teachable? Alternatives for Shopify sellers
Alva Courses is a Shopify app that sells online courses through your store's own checkout, with no transaction fee and no limit on how many courses you publish. Here it is set against the Shopify apps Tevello, Courses Plus and Inflowkit and the standalone schools Teachable users consider next (Thinkific, Podia and LearnWorlds), priced from each vendor in October 2026.
Teachable's Starter plan takes 7.5% of every sale, and each self-serve plan caps you at 5, 10 or 50 products, as of October 2026. Alva Courses ($9.99 or $14.99 a month, no transaction fee, unlimited courses) and other Shopify apps sell courses through your store's checkout. Teachable stays strong on student mobile apps.
Why course sellers look for Teachable alternatives.
Course sellers look for Teachable alternatives because its costs grow with success. The $39 Starter plan takes 7.5% of each sale, every self-serve plan caps how many products you can publish, and course certificates start on the $189 Growth plan. For Shopify sellers, Teachable also adds a second checkout and a second login.
Starter costs $39 a month, or $29 billed annually, plus 7.5% of every sale on top of card processing. Builder and Growth drop the Teachable fee to 0%, but only for sales through Teachable Payments.
Starter publishes 5 products, Builder 10 and Growth 50; bundles, memberships and drafts don't count. A catalogue that outgrows its cap means moving up a plan, or to the sales-priced Custom tier, even if your revenue hasn't changed.
Course certificates, bulk student imports, Zapier, webhooks and removing Teachable branding are listed from Growth, at $189 a month or $139 billed annually. Starter has no custom domain.
We found no Teachable app on the Shopify App Store. Zapier, which Teachable lists from Growth, can enrol a Shopify buyer in a Teachable course, but the student still learns on Teachable, with a second login.
Teachable's plans, fees and caps
Teachable sells three self-serve plans and a Custom plan priced through its sales team. The table lists what Teachable publishes for each self-serve plan, taken from its pricing page and plan comparison on 9 October 2026. Prices are per month in US dollars.
| Teachable plan | Billed monthly | Billed annually | Products | Teachable fee | Custom domain | Certificates | Zapier & API | Integrations |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $39/mo | $29/mo | 5 | 7.5% | No | No | No | 1 |
| Builder | $89/mo | $69/mo | 10 | 0%* | Yes | No | No | 3 |
| Growth | $189/mo | $139/mo | 50 | 0%* | Yes | Yes | Yes | 5 |
Source: Teachable pricing, checked 9 October 2026. *The 0% fee applies to sales through Teachable Payments, where US card payments cost 2.9% plus 30 cents. Every plan card shows a 7-day free trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee; a pop-up offer on the same page extended Builder's trial to 30 days. Custom adds flexible product and student seats, migration assistance and a dedicated success manager.
Teachable's usage fees (updated 28 September 2026) add a cost for students who don't buy through its checkout. Students added by import, by API or from a sale on another platform cost $0.50 a month each above the first 100. Schools created before 3 September 2026 stay on an older schedule until their first renewal on or after 30 April 2027.
What the 7.5% fee costs at different sales levels
Teachable's Starter fee is a percentage, so it grows with your sales while Builder's price stays flat. The table works through one month at four sales levels, using Teachable's monthly-billed prices. Card processing is left out of every column.
| Monthly course sales | Teachable Starter ($39 + 7.5%) | Teachable Builder ($89) | Alva Courses Unlimited Pro |
|---|---|---|---|
| $500 | $76.50 | $89 | $14.99 |
| $1,000 | $114 | $89 | $14.99 |
| $3,000 | $264 | $89 | $14.99 |
| $10,000 | $789 | $89 | $14.99 |
Starter's fee overtakes Builder's flat price at about $667 of monthly sales. Alva Courses runs on top of a Shopify plan, which a Shopify seller already pays and which is not counted here; Teachable does not need one. For more on choosing a price point, see how to price an online course.
Where Teachable is strong
Teachable is a polished standalone school. Every plan includes iOS and Android student apps, memberships, drip, auto-graded quizzes, lesson comments and bundles, plus coupons, upsells and abandoned-cart emails. Teachable also lists US sales tax, VAT and GST handling on every plan.
From Builder it adds built-in email marketing, an affiliate program, real-time support and a custom domain. Coaching can also be sold as a product. If you have no Shopify store and a small catalogue, Teachable Builder is a complete, simple place to sell.
Seven Teachable alternatives, with fees and caps spelled out.
Teachable alternatives come in two kinds. Shopify-native apps, Alva Courses, Tevello, Courses Plus and Inflowkit, run inside your store and sell each course as a Shopify product. Thinkific, Podia and LearnWorlds are standalone schools, and each trades Teachable's percentage fee and product caps for a different set of limits.
Apps that run in your Shopify store
Standalone schools
Teachable alternatives compared side by side.
Each row shows where a Teachable alternative runs, its cheapest paid plan, the limit that plan sets, any per-sale fee, the trial and whose checkout buyers see. Limits get their own column because Teachable's product caps are a common reason to leave. Prices are monthly-billed US dollars from October 2026.
| Platform | Runs on | Entry paid plan | Limit on that plan | Vendor fee per sale | Free trial | Checkout |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alva Courses | Shopify app | $9.99/mo | Unlimited courses and members | None | 14 days | Shopify checkout |
| Tevello | Shopify app | $29/mo (one plan) | Unlimited courses and members | None | 14 days | Shopify checkout |
| Courses Plus | Shopify app | $19.99/mo | 20 lessons per store | None listed | 7 days | Shopify checkout |
| Inflowkit | Shopify app | $19/mo | 50 courses, 5,000 enrolments | None listed | 14 days | Shopify checkout |
| Thinkific | Standalone | $54/mo | Unlimited courses, 10,000 current students | Up to 5% on Stripe sales; none on Thinkific Payments | 30 days | Its own checkout |
| Podia | Standalone all-in-one | $49/mo | 50 products, 100 email subscribers | 5% on Mover | 14 days | Its own checkout |
| LearnWorlds | Standalone | $29/mo | 1,000 active learners a month | $5 per paid enrolment on Starter | 30 days | Its own checkout |
| Teachable (today) | Standalone | $39/mo | 5 products | 7.5% on Starter | 7 days | Its own checkout |
Not counted here: card processing, which every option charges, and the Shopify plan the four Shopify apps need. A Shopify seller pays that plan already; anyone else should add it. Vendors revise prices, so check each listing before you commit.
Where Teachable's features go on Shopify
Some of what Teachable reserves for Builder or Growth is part of both Alva Courses plans, and some of it has no Alva equivalent. This is how each Teachable feature maps across when your school moves to Shopify with Alva Courses.
| Teachable feature | Teachable plan | On Shopify with Alva Courses |
|---|---|---|
| Published products | 5, 10 or 50 by plan | Unlimited courses; one product can open several courses |
| Transaction fee | 7.5% on Starter | No Alva transaction fee on either plan |
| Course certificates | Growth and up | Both plans, awarded automatically on completion |
| Bulk student imports | Growth and up | CSV import on both plans, up to ten courses per row |
| Zapier, webhooks, API | Growth and up | Shopify Flow triggers and actions on both plans |
| Custom domain, branding removal | Builder; branding removal on Growth | Courses open inside your Shopify store, styled to match your theme |
| Memberships | Every plan | Membership tags from a subscription app such as Seal, Appstle or ReCharge |
| Built-in email marketing | Builder and up | Shopify Messaging (formerly Shopify Email) or Klaviyo, fed by Shopify Flow or progress tags; Alva sends the course emails itself |
| Affiliate program | Builder and up | Not part of Alva Courses |
| Coaching products | A Teachable product type | Not offered; a Button block can link a lesson to a Zoom or other live-session URL |
| iOS and Android student apps | Every plan | Not offered; students learn in a web browser |
For the email side, see how to automate courses with Shopify Flow. For recurring access, see how to create a membership site on Shopify.
Which Teachable alternative fits your school?
The right Teachable alternative depends on which limit you hit. If it was the 7.5% fee or the product cap and you sell on Shopify, a Shopify-native app removes both. If you want the vendor to migrate your school, Courses Plus, Podia or LearnWorlds offer that. If your students rely on Teachable's mobile apps, staying may be right.
Choose Alva Courses if you…
- Sell on Shopify and want courses in the same checkout as your products
- Want no percentage of each sale and no cap on courses
- Need certificates and bulk enrolment without a $189 plan
- Want long lesson videos hosted in the app (Unlimited Pro)
- Want every student in your Shopify customer list from the first sale
Choose another Shopify app if you…
- Run a community alongside your courses (Tevello)
- Want your Teachable content migrated for you (Courses Plus)
- Sell mostly subscriptions on a small budget (Inflowkit)
Choose another standalone platform if you…
- Don't have, or don't want, a Shopify store
- Want unlimited courses on a standalone school (Thinkific)
- Want a website and email list in the same tool (Podia)
- Need SCORM or white-label (LearnWorlds)
Stay on Teachable if you…
- Rely on its iOS and Android student apps
- Run an affiliate program or sell coaching products
- Want sales tax, VAT and GST handled by the platform
- Sell a handful of products through Teachable Payments on Builder
For the wider question of a store app versus a separate school, read Shopify course app vs standalone LMS. Leaving an all-in-one platform as well? The Kajabi alternatives roundup covers that move.
How to move from Teachable to Shopify.
Alva Courses has no Teachable importer, so the move is a manual rebuild in four parts: map your Teachable products, recreate each course in the builder, attach Shopify products, and enrol current students from a CSV file. Leave Teachable running until your first test orders enrol correctly.
- Map your Teachable products. Each course becomes an Alva course linked to a Shopify product; a bundle becomes one product linked to several courses. Coaching products have no Alva equivalent, so plan where they go.
- Install Alva Courses and start the 14-day free trial. Unlimited Pro suits a school whose lessons are long uploaded videos.
- Rebuild the curriculum. Recreate sections and lessons in the drag-and-drop builder, upload video to Alva Video Hosting or embed it from YouTube, Vimeo or Loom, and add quizzes, drip and a certificate.
- Attach a Shopify product to each course and price it. New buyers are enrolled automatically when their order is paid, with no percentage taken by Alva.
- Import existing students by CSV from Members → Bulk Import CSV, with up to ten course titles per row and up to 1,000 lines per file. You can add a Shopify customer tag to everyone imported. Teachable progress does not carry over.
- Test, then tell students. Tick Send enrollment emails in Settings → Email Settings, place a test order, then explain the new way in: the access link in their email, or My Courses in their Shopify account.
Teachable-specific steps, including what to export first, are in how to migrate from Teachable to Shopify; the CSV columns are in import members with CSV. Courses Plus, Podia and LearnWorlds each advertise a done-for-you migration if you would rather not rebuild yourself.
Alva Courses pricing against Teachable's.
Alva Courses Unlimited costs $9.99 a month and Unlimited Pro $14.99, each with a 14-day free trial, no free plan and no transaction fee. Twelve months of Unlimited, $119.88, cost less than two months of Teachable Builder billed monthly ($178). Alva runs on top of a Shopify plan, which Teachable does not require.
| plan | Unlimited $9.99/mo No fee, no course cap | Recommended Unlimited Pro $14.99/mo Adds hosting for video and files |
|---|---|---|
| Courses, members & comments | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Transaction fee | None | None |
| Quizzes, certificates & drip | ||
| Branded email from your own domain | ||
| Alva Video Hosting (50 GB, no per-video limit) | — | |
| Alva File Storage (course files up to 500 MB) | — | |
| 14-day free trial |
Plans are picked on Shopify's app pricing page during install and appear on your Shopify invoice, not a separate bill. Compare the Alva Courses pricing page with Teachable's pricing page for current figures.
Teaching is often one product line among several. See how Alva Courses works for content creators and for coaches and consultants who sell from a Shopify store.
Teachable alternatives: common questions.
Every course in your store — no product cap.
Try it on one course first. Rebuild a Teachable course in Alva Courses, give it a Shopify product, run a test order and check the enrolment, while Teachable keeps serving your students. The 14-day free trial is long enough to see it work end to end.