Best course platform for a small budget
5 course platforms that meet the bar for a small budget, ranked by a rule printed on the page.
Last verified October 21, 2026 against each vendor's own pages
Lowest paid plan, billed monthly
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| Feature | Skool | Systeme.io | LearnWorlds | Teachable | Podia |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lowest paid plan, monthly billing | Ahead in this row: $9 | $17 | $29 | $39 | $49 |
| Lowest paid plan, billed yearly | Ahead in this row: $7.50 | Not stated | $24 | $29 | $42 |
| Free plan | No | Yes | No | No | No |
| Free trial | Yes, length not stated | No trial; free plan instead | Yes, length not stated | 7 days | 14 days |
| Platform fee on your saleson the lowest paid plan | 10% | 0% | $5 per paid enrollment | 7.5% | 5% |
| Courses or productson the lowest paid plan | Ahead in this row: Unlimited | 5 | Not stated | 5 | 50 |
Each value links to the vendor page it was copied from. The raised-bar mark shows the column ahead on rows where more or less is plainly better. "Not stated" means the vendor's public pages do not say.
What the table shows
Skool is the pick under the printed rule, because it has the lowest paid monthly price at $9 a month, followed by Systeme.io at $17, LearnWorlds at $29, Teachable at $39 and Podia at $49. Systeme.io is the only platform with a free plan and charges a 0% platform fee on the lowest paid plan, while Skool charges 10%, Teachable 7.5%, Podia 5% and LearnWorlds $5 per paid enrollment. On the lowest paid plan, Skool lists unlimited courses or products, Podia 50, and Systeme.io and Teachable 5 each, while LearnWorlds is not stated. Systeme.io shows no yearly price, and the yearly prices that are shown are $7.50 for Skool, $24 for LearnWorlds, $29 for Teachable and $42 for Podia.
- Pick Skool ifyou want the lowest paid monthly price at $9, a yearly rate of $7.50 a month and unlimited courses or products, and can accept a 10% platform fee.Visit Skool
- Pick Systeme.io ifyou want a free plan and a 0% platform fee on your sales, and can work with 5 courses or products on the lowest paid plan.Visit Systeme.io
- Pick LearnWorlds ifyou prefer a yearly rate of $24 a month, which is lower than Teachable at $29 and Podia at $42, and you are fine paying $5 per paid enrollment instead of a percentage fee.Visit LearnWorlds
- Pick Teachable ifyou want a 7 day free trial and a 7.5% platform fee, with a yearly rate of $29 a month.Visit Teachable
- Pick Podia ifyou want a 14 day free trial, a 5% platform fee and room for 50 courses or products, and can pay $49 a month on monthly billing.Visit Podia
Written from the table above and checked against it before publishing. It does not judge output quality, support or ease of use, which the table does not measure.
How this page was put together
Every course platform in the table, sorted by the lowest paid monthly price on the vendor's own pricing page. Platforms that show only a yearly price sort last.
Prices are each vendor's own list prices in US dollars before tax, for the lowest paid plan. Features come from the vendors' public pricing and help pages, linked in every cell. The monthly check re-reads those pages; a page whose data is older than 45 days is taken down until it is checked again. Spot something wrong? Send a correction.
Pricing pages as captured
