Payhip vs Teachable
A source-aware comparison of pricing, documented capabilities and workflow fit.
Short answer
- Price: not directly comparable — Payhip is free tier available, Teachable is from $29/mo.
- How to start: Payhip is free tier available, Teachable is from $29/mo.
- Where they differ: only Teachable has public api and mobile app.
These lines are generated from the pricing we track, not from a paid placement. How we score tools.
What Payhip is
What Payhip isPayhip sells digital products, courses and memberships with the storefront, checkout and EU VAT handling included. It handles the part most creators get wrong on their own: EU VAT is calculated and remitted rather than left as a problem for later. It is a storefront rather than a marketing platform, so audience building still happens somewhere else.
What Teachable is
What Teachable isTeachable is a leading online course platform that allows creators to build and sell professional-grade educational content. It focuses on providing a world-class student experience with its clean, structured course player and native payment processing. Teachable handles all the technical aspects like hosting and tax calculations, allowing you to focus on teaching. With powerful features for coaching and bulk user management, it is a trusted choice for both independent educators and large training organizations.
Side by side
| Payhip | Teachable | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | E-commerce | E-commerce |
| How to start | Free tiernot a monthly price | $29/moverified |
| Public API | No | Yes |
| Mobile app | No | Yes |
| Open source / self-hostable | No | No |
| SSO (SAML) | No | No |
| Visit | Payhip ↗ | Teachable ↗ |
Some links on this page earn us a commission if you sign up. It never changes a price you pay, a verdict we publish, or the order tools appear in.
What Payhip is built to do
- Digital product delivery
- Hosts files and delivers them securely after payment.
- EU VAT handling
- Calculates and applies VAT rules on digital sales automatically.
- Courses and memberships
- Sells recurring access alongside one-off downloads.
What Teachable is built to do
- Course Player
- A structured, distraction-free environment for students to consume your content.
- Coaching Module
- Sell one-on-one coaching sessions and manage bookings in one place.
- Bulk Student Import
- Easily migrate your students from other platforms with one click.
- Certificates
- Automatically issue professional certificates to students who complete your course.
Choose Payhip if
- Creators who want to launch without a monthly bill: the Free Forever plan carries a 5% transaction fee but has unlimited products and unlimited revenue
- Sellers who dislike feature gating — Payhip states every plan includes all features, so the plan only changes the transaction fee
- EU and UK sellers of digital goods: Payhip collects and remits EU and UK VAT on your behalf automatically
Skip Payhip if
- Your volume is high and steady — a percentage of every sale eventually costs more than a flat platform fee, and Plus still takes 2%
- You expect the platform fee to be the only cost: PayPal and Stripe charge their standard rates on top, on every plan
- You need a published price before deciding — the monthly figures on the pricing page render client-side; only the fee tiers are in the page text
Choose Teachable if
- Course creators who want hosting, payments and a student experience in one place
- Sellers with enough volume to justify skipping the transaction cut
- Trying it first: 7-day trial plus a 30-day money-back guarantee
Skip Teachable if
- You start on Starter and sell steadily — Teachable takes 7.5% of every sale on top of card fees
- You want a free plan; there is none, only a trial
- You are comparing on the sticker price: dropping the 7.5% cut means Builder at $69/mo annual
Evidence and freshness
Where a claim on this page comes from a vendor page, it is linked here.
Payhip: pros & cons
- Handles EU VAT for you
- No monthly fee on the free plan
- Covers downloads, courses and memberships
- Transaction fee on the free plan
- Storefront customisation is limited
- Smaller ecosystem than dedicated platforms
Teachable: pros & cons
- Great Student Experience: A polished course player that students rarely complain about.
- Tax Handling: Automatically handles VAT and sales taxes for your sales.
- Affiliate Marketing: Built-in tools to let others sell your courses for you.
- Native Payments: Their own payment system (Teachable:pay) is very reliable.
- Transaction Fees: High fees on the free and basic plans can cut into profits.
- No Site Builder: Not designed to be a full website, just a course storefront.
- Basic Email: Requires an external tool like ConvertKit for serious email marketing.
Our verdict on Payhip
A practical starting point, and the VAT handling saves real work.
Our verdict on Teachable
A solid, dependable platform with a primary focus on high-quality course delivery.
Published plans, side by side
Every figure below was read from the vendor's own pricing page and is shown with the sentence it came from. Where a vendor publishes no plan prices, we say so rather than guess.
Payhip
- Free Forever$0/mo
Free Forever: +5% transaction fee, all features, unlimited products, unlimited revenue
Teachable
No published plan prices verified. Teachable either quotes on request or renders its prices in a way we could not read from the pricing page.
Payhip vs Teachable: common questions
- Does Payhip or Teachable have a free plan?
- Payhip has a free tier with limits, while Teachable has no free plan listed.
- What is the difference between Payhip and Teachable?
- On the criteria we check, only Teachable has public api and mobile app. The table above lists every criterion side by side.