Softwr

LMS · head to head

Teachable vs Thought Industries

Teachable logo

Teachable

LMS

Create and sell courses online

From
$29/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Thought Industries logo

Thought Industries

LMS

External learning platform for companies that sell training to customers and partners as a product

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; Thought Industries the annual floor is an enterprise number, so organisations with modest training revenue pay more in platform fees than a revenue share would have cost them.
  • They diverge on capability: Teachable covers Course builder, Thought Industries covers Commerce engine.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Teachable and Thought Industries actually diverge.

Attributes where Teachable and Thought Industries differ
AttributeTeachableThought Industries
Starting price$29/monthOn request
Pricing modelUnknownquote
PlatformsWebWeb, iOS, Android
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 Thought Industries

  • Commerce engine
  • Licence and seat management
  • Multi-tenant panorama delivery
  • Certification programmes
  • Learning path personalisation
  • Analytics on revenue and consumption

What people use each for

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

Teachable

  • Course creationnot Thought Industries
  • Coaching servicesnot Thought Industries
  • Digital productsnot Thought Industries
  • Membership sitesnot Thought Industries

Thought Industries

  • A software company whose customer certification programme has grown past what a creator platform can administernot Teachable
  • Professional bodies selling continuing education with certification renewal cyclesnot Teachable
  • Manufacturers training distributor and dealer networks who each need their own branded environmentnot Teachable
  • Any training business where a percentage of revenue model has become more expensive than a flat platform feenot 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

Thought Industries

  • The annual floor is an enterprise number, so organisations with modest training revenue pay more in platform fees than a revenue share would have cost them.
  • Implementation is measured in months and needs an internal owner, so the platform sits unused and paid for during a slow rollout.
  • It is designed for external audiences, so using it for internal employee compliance training means paying for commerce and multi-tenancy capability that internal training does not need.
  • Configuration depth for commerce and tenancy means the administrator role is a real job, and organisations that assign it as a fraction of someone else's role underuse the system.
  • Content authoring is not the strength, so most customers pair it with a separate authoring tool and manage two vendors and two content workflows.

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

Thought Industries

On request
  • Thought Industries$undefined/year
    • Annual platform fee, quoted
    • No percentage taken of course revenue
    • Implementation and success services quoted separately

Which should you pick?

Choose Teachable if

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

Choose Thought Industries if

  • You need commerce engine.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want licence and seat management.
Thought Industries review

Questions people ask

Is Teachable or Thought Industries better?
Neither clearly leads. Teachable starts at $29/month and Thought Industries at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Teachable or Thought Industries?
Teachable starts at $29/month and Thought Industries at On request.
Does Teachable or Thought Industries run on more platforms?
Teachable runs on Web. Thought Industries runs on Web, iOS, Android.
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 Thought Industries is typically brought in for.
What can Teachable do that Thought Industries cannot?
Teachable covers Course builder, Quizzes, Certificates, Coaching products. Thought Industries covers Commerce engine, Licence and seat management, Multi-tenant panorama delivery, Certification programmes.

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
Thought Industries: Does Thought Industries take a percentage of course sales?

No. It charges an annual platform fee. That is more expensive than a revenue share at low volume and considerably cheaper once training revenue grows.

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
Thought Industries: Can one platform serve several corporate customers separately?

Yes. Multi-tenant delivery gives each business customer its own branded environment and administrator while content stays centrally managed.

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
Thought Industries: Is it suitable for internal employee training?

It can do it, but you would be paying for commerce and tenancy features that internal compliance training does not use. A corporate learning platform is usually the better fit.

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
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