Selling knowledge online in 2026 means picking between a full business platform, a lean course host, and a community-first tool. The transaction fees matter as much as the monthly price.
| Monthly | Transaction fee | What it is | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Skool | $99 flat | 0% (payment processing only) | community + courses + gamification |
| Teachable | Free / $39 Starter (annual $29) | Free: $1 + 10%; Starter: 5% | course hosting |
| Kajabi | from ~$159 (some tiers $249+) | 0% (0.5–2% surcharge if using your own Stripe) | courses + email + funnels + site + payments |
Skool is the cheapest and the simplest: $99/month flat, no per-transaction cut beyond [Stripe](/entry/stripe-vs-paddle-vs-lemon-squeezy-fees-for-saas-merchant-of-record-explained-202)'s processing. It's built around the community being the product — a discussion feed, a gamified leaderboard, courses attached — so it's the pick for coaching groups, masterminds and paid communities where daily engagement is the value. Less suited to a standalone course you sell once.
Teachable looks cheapest on paper — free to start, $39/month Starter — but the transaction fees claw it back. The free plan takes $1 + 10% of every sale; Starter takes 5%. Once you're doing real revenue, those fees exceed what Kajabi's flat pricing would cost. Fine for validating an idea, expensive to scale on.
Kajabi is the all-in-one: courses, email marketing, sales funnels, a website, and checkout, with zero transaction fees on every plan. It's priced for established businesses (from ~$159, often more), and the value case is replacing three or four separate subscriptions (course host + email tool + landing pages + funnel builder). If you're just starting, it's overkill; if you're running a mature info-product business, the math works.
Paid community with engagement as the point: Skool. Testing a course idea cheaply: Teachable free/Starter. Running a full info-product business and want to consolidate tools: Kajabi.