Softwr

LMS · head to head

Teachable vs Totara

Teachable logo

Teachable

LMS

Create and sell courses online

From
$29/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Totara logo

Totara

LMS

Open source learning, performance and collaboration platform derived from Moodle and sold through partners

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Teachable starter plan charges 7.5% transaction fee, significantly higher than other plans; Totara you cannot buy from the vendor. Every purchase runs through a partner who sets its own hosting, services and support pricing, so identical platforms are quoted at materially different totals and buyers must run a partner comparison as well as a product comparison.
  • They diverge on capability: Teachable covers Course builder, Totara covers Organisational hierarchies.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Teachable and Totara actually diverge.

Attributes where Teachable and Totara differ
AttributeTeachableTotara
Starting price$29/monthOn request
Pricing modelUnknownquote
PlatformsWebWeb, iOS, Android, Linux
Founded2014Unknown

Identical on both: free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (LMS).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Teachable

  • Course builder
  • Quizzes
  • Certificates
  • Coaching products
  • Payment processing
  • Affiliate marketing
  • Email marketing
  • Analytics

Only in Totara

  • Organisational hierarchies
  • Compliance and certification
  • Totara Perform
  • Totara Engage
  • Self-hosting
  • Programs and learning plans

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Teachable

  • Course creationnot Totara
  • Coaching servicesnot Totara
  • Digital productsnot Totara
  • Membership sitesnot Totara

Totara

  • Health services and government bodies that must evidence mandatory training by job role across a large hierarchynot Teachable
  • Organisations with data residency rules that require the platform to run on their own infrastructurenot Teachable
  • Moodle users who need appraisal, competency and compliance features the academic product does not carrynot Teachable
  • Buyers who want exit rights over the platform code rather than dependence on a single hosted vendornot Teachable

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Teachable

  • Starter plan charges 7.5% transaction fee, significantly higher than other plans
  • Student limits lift only at $10k+ annual sales for higher plans
  • No free tier, only 7-day trial
  • Custom plan requires sales contact with minimum $30k/year revenue

Totara

  • You cannot buy from the vendor. Every purchase runs through a partner who sets its own hosting, services and support pricing, so identical platforms are quoted at materially different totals and buyers must run a partner comparison as well as a product comparison.
  • Open source does not mean cheap. Subscription plus partner hosting plus implementation and version upgrade services commonly lands near commercial system cost, and the saving is in control and exit rights rather than in the invoice.
  • The administrative interface carries its Moodle lineage and is dense, so administrator training is a real project cost rather than an afterthought.
  • Major version upgrades are projects, especially where a partner has customised the deployment, and organisations that customise heavily find upgrades slower and dearer over time.
  • The learner facing experience is functional rather than engaging, and organisations wanting a consumer grade learning experience usually front it with something else.

Pricing, plan by plan

Teachable

$29/month
  • Starter$39/month
    • 5 products
    • 100 active students
    • 7.5% transaction fee
  • Builder$89/month
    • 10 products
    • 1000 active students
    • 0% transaction fee
  • Growth$189/month
    • 50 products
    • 5000 active students
    • 0% transaction fee
  • Custom$undefined/month
    • Unlimited products
    • Dedicated success manager
    • Custom pricing

Totara

On request
  • Totara subscription via partner$undefined/year
    • Sold only through distribution partners
    • Partner sets hosting, implementation and support pricing
    • Source available under the GPL, but subscription required for supported releases

Which should you pick?

Choose Teachable if

  • You need course builder.
  • You also want quizzes.
Teachable review

Choose Totara if

  • You need organisational hierarchies.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android, Linux.
  • You also want compliance and certification.
Totara review

Questions people ask

Is Teachable or Totara better?
Neither clearly leads. Teachable starts at $29/month and Totara at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Teachable or Totara?
Teachable starts at $29/month and Totara at On request.
Does Teachable or Totara run on more platforms?
Teachable runs on Web. Totara runs on Web, iOS, Android, Linux.
What is Teachable best used for?
Teachable is most often used for course creation, coaching services, digital products, membership sites. Of those, course creation and coaching services are not what Totara is typically brought in for.
What can Teachable do that Totara cannot?
Teachable covers Course builder, Quizzes, Certificates, Coaching products. Totara covers Organisational hierarchies, Compliance and certification, Totara Perform, Totara Engage.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Teachable: Does Teachable have a free plan?

Teachable offers a 7-day free trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee, but no permanent free plan. The Starter plan costs $39/month (or $29/month annually).

Source
Totara: Is Totara free because it is open source?

No. The source is available under the GPL, but supported releases require a subscription, and it is sold through partners who add hosting, implementation and support costs.

Teachable: What are the transaction fees?

Starter plan charges 7.5% transaction fee. Builder, Growth, and Advanced plans charge 0% transaction fees. Additional payment processing fees of 2.9%-4.99% plus per-transaction charges apply depending on payment method.

Source
Totara: How is it different from Moodle?

Moodle is built around courses and academic delivery. Totara adds organisational hierarchies, role based automatic assignment, recurring certification and appraisal, which is what workplace compliance reporting needs.

Teachable: What integrations are available?

Teachable integrates with Zapier, Stripe, PayPal, Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign, Google Analytics, Calendly, Zoom, and other tools via the App Hub.

Source
Totara: Can we host it ourselves?

Yes. Self hosting is a genuine option and is one of the main reasons regulated and public sector buyers choose it over a hosted only competitor.

Teachable: How many courses can I create?

Starter plan allows 5 products, Builder allows 10, Growth allows 50, and Advanced allows 100 courses.

Source
Teachable: What is included in certificate features?

Course certificates are available starting on the Growth plan ($139/month annually). Certificates can be customized with branding and are generated automatically when students complete courses.

Source
Share

Related pages

More on Teachable

More on Totara

Keep looking

Other head to heads