Best course platforms
The subscription is not the whole cost: some platforms take a percentage of every sale on their cheaper plans, which the comparisons linked from each row spell out. Every figure below was read from the vendor's own pricing page on the date beside it. The ordering is cheapest entry price first — a basis you can check rather than a ranking you have to trust.
What “best” means on this page
“Best” is not a mood — it is whichever axis you actually care about, measured. Our record can say which tool is cheapest to start, whose free plan is real, who bills local currency and whose prices just moved; it cannot say which tool fits your work, which is what the full comparisons are for. Cheapest never means best — it means cheapest. Each verdict below names its axis, and every tool links to its own site so you can check us against the source. No vendor paid for any position.
Entry at €53/mo — the lowest published paid plan in this set. Cheap is a fact, not a verdict; the profile below says what you get for it.
site ↗pricing ↗Showed us different money in different countries on the same day — measured, not assumed. The profiles carry the figures.
Tool by tool
Thinkificsite ↗pricing ↗
A course platform for creators and businesses selling their own teaching, with communities and bundles alongside courses. Paid plans start at €53/mo (Basic); no free plan is published. The ladder we hold runs 3 paid tiers, topping out at €213/mo (Grow). It bills by country — entry $54/mo to a US reader and £46/mo to a UK reader, from our same-day reads. Charges no transaction fee on paid plans, which is the number to weigh against a cheaper rival that does.
Side by side
| Tool | Paid from | Free plan | Currency | Read | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thinkific | €53/mo | — | EUR | 2026-08-27 | page |
Billed in another currency
These tools are in the same category but did not show us a price in EUR on our last read — they quote the currency shown. We list them rather than convert: a converted figure is not a price anyone is charged.
Systeme.iosite ↗pricing ↗
An all-in-one platform bundling funnels, email, courses and affiliate management — aimed at solo operators who would otherwise stitch four tools together. Paid plans start at $17/mo (Startup); a free plan exists. The ladder we hold runs 3 paid tiers, topping out at $97/mo (Unlimited). Publishes a genuinely free plan and unlocks features by tier rather than by list size, which is the opposite of how most of this category charges.
Teachablesite ↗pricing ↗
A platform for building and selling online courses, handling hosting, payments and student management. Paid plans start at $39/mo (Starter); no free plan is published. The ladder we hold runs 3 paid tiers, topping out at $189/mo (Growth). We read the same $39/mo in every market we check, so this vendor does not price by country. It quotes USD here rather than local currency, so your bank sets the conversion. Its cheaper plans take a cut of every sale on top of the subscription — the flat price is not the whole price.
| Tool | Paid from | Free plan | Currency | Read | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Systeme.io | $17/mo | Yes | USD | 2026-08-25 | page |
| Teachable | $39/mo | — | USD | 2026-08-29 | page |