If you’re selling a course, cohort, or paid community, you’re probably paying for it twice: once as a monthly platform fee, and again as a percentage of every transaction that clears.
That’s not hidden. Most platforms advertise both. But the cumulative cost surprises operators who hit their first $5,000 month and realize they just handed over $150 in transaction fees on top of the $79 they paid to access the platform in the first place.
Here’s how the pricing actually works, when the double charge makes sense, and when you should rebuild on infrastructure you control.
How course platform pricing breaks down
Most hosted course platforms use a tiered model with two components:
- Monthly or annual subscription: $29–$299/month depending on feature access, student cap, or number of courses.
- Transaction fee: 0–5% of gross revenue per sale, sometimes with a per-transaction ceiling.
Teachable charges 0% on its $159/month Pro plan but takes 5% on the $39/month Basic tier. Kajabi bundles everything at $149/month with no transaction fees. Podia sits at $89/month with zero transaction cut. Thinkific’s free plan exists, but you pay 10% per sale until you upgrade.
The trade-off is predictable: pay more upfront to keep transaction fees low, or start cheap and give up margin as you grow.
Where it gets expensive is the middle ground—$2,000 to $15,000 in monthly course revenue. You’re paying a platform fee that assumes scale, and losing 2–5% on every sale because you haven’t hit the tier that waives the transaction cut.
When the double charge makes sense
If you’re launching your first course or testing a new offer, a hosted platform with both fees is still the right call. You get:
- Payment processing built in (no Stripe integration required)
- Student login, drip scheduling, and certificate generation without custom dev
- Email sequences tied to course progress
- Mobile apps on some platforms
The transaction fee funds the infrastructure you’d otherwise build yourself. For a $500 launch, paying $25 in transaction fees plus a $39 platform subscription is cheaper and faster than standing up a membership site on WordPress, wiring Stripe webhooks, and writing conditional access logic.
The model also works if your course revenue is unpredictable. A 5% variable cost beats a $300/month fixed cost when you’re selling $1,200 some months and $200 others.
When to move off double-fee platforms
Once you clear $10,000/month in course sales, the transaction fees start to hurt. At $10,000/month and a 3% transaction fee, you’re paying $300/month in cuts plus your base subscription. That’s $3,600/year in transaction drag.
At that point, you have three exits:
Option one: Upgrade to a plan that waives transaction fees. Kajabi and Podia don’t charge per sale. You pay more upfront, but your margin per student stays consistent.
Option two: Move to a WordPress membership plugin (MemberPress, Restrict Content Pro, LearnDash) and connect your own Stripe account. You’ll pay Stripe’s standard 2.9% + 30¢, but nothing additional to the course platform. Hosting costs $30–$100/month depending on your provider and traffic load.
Option three: Use a headless setup—sell access via Gumroad or your own Stripe checkout, then grant course access via Memberful, Circle, or a custom-built student portal. You control the payment flow and only pay Stripe’s processing fee.
What most operators miss
Transaction fees compound with payment-processor fees. If your course platform takes 3% and Stripe takes 2.9%, you’re losing nearly 6% of every sale before taxes, refunds, or chargebacks. On a $500 course, that’s $30 gone before you see a dollar.
Some platforms (Thinkific, Teachable) let you bring your own Stripe account, which means you see the full sale minus Stripe’s cut—but you still owe the platform its transaction percentage. Others (Kajabi) process payments on your behalf and remit net revenue to you. Read the fine print. If the platform holds funds for 24–72 hours, that affects your cash flow during launch weeks.
The breakeven math
Here’s a rough model. Assume:
- Platform A: $79/month + 3% transaction fee
- Platform B: $149/month + 0% transaction fee
You break even when $79 + (0.03 × revenue) = $149, which happens at $2,333 in monthly course sales. Above that number, Platform B is cheaper. Below it, Platform A wins.
Run this calculation for your own numbers. If you’re selling $8,000/month on a platform charging $50/month + 5%, you’re paying $450/month total. A zero-transaction-fee platform at $150/month saves you $300 every month.
One thing to do this week
Pull your last 90 days of course revenue and calculate what you paid in platform fees vs. transaction fees. If transaction fees are larger than your base subscription, model what you’d pay on a higher tier or a different platform.
If you’re clearing $5,000/month or more, the savings are real. And if you’re just launching, don’t overthink it—pick the platform that gets you live fastest, even if it charges twice. You can always migrate once the revenue justifies it.
Got a question about course platforms, pricing models, or migration logistics? Reply to this email—we read everything and pull the best questions for future editions.