Course Platform Transaction Fees Compared: What You Keep

Short answer: “0% transaction fees” rarely means 0% fees. Every platform below passes on card processing, which is usually 2.9% + 30¢ for US cards. Some also take a platform fee, and several now add 0.7% on subscriptions.

At $5,000 a month from 100 one-time sales, monthly billing and US cards, what you keep ranges from $4,808 (Systeme.io Startup) down to $4,296 (LearnWorlds Starter). All fees were checked on 20 Oct 2026 against each vendor’s own pages, linked below.

The three layers of fees

Every platform’s cost is made of three parts:

1. The plan price, fixed each month.
2. The platform fee: a percentage or fixed amount the platform keeps from each sale.
3. Card processing: paid to Stripe, PayPal or the platform’s own payments product.

Platform by platform

• Systeme.io: no platform fee; you pay Stripe or PayPal directly. Pricing
• Skool:
  • Hobby: 10% + 30¢ per payment.
  • Pro: 2.9% + 30¢, or 3.9% + 30¢ above $900.
  • Processing is included.
  • Growth Boost takes 30% of revenue from Discovery-sourced members (on by default). FAQ
• Teachable:
  • Starter: 7.5% fee, calculated on the total including taxes. Builder and Growth: 0%.
  • Processing (US school): 2.9% + 30¢ on domestic cards, 4.4% + 30¢ on international cards.
  • Standard bundle: +0.7% on recurring payments and +0.5% where tax is assessed. Fees · Bundles
• Thinkific:
  • Thinkific Payments: 0% platform fee; 2.9% + 30¢ in the US.
  • Surcharges: +1.5% on international cards, +1% for currency conversion, +0.7% on subscriptions.
  • Third-party gateway: 5%, 2% or 1% by plan. Payments · Gateway FAQ
• Kajabi:
  • Kajabi Payments: 0% platform fee; card processing 2.9%, 2.8% or 2.7% + 30¢ by plan.
  • Surcharges: +1.5% on international cards, +0.7% on subscriptions and payment plans.
  • Third-party processor: +2%, 1% or 0.5%. Fees
• Circle:
  • 2% (Professional), 1% (Business and Scale) or 0.5% (Plus), on top of Stripe’s 2.9% + 30¢.
  • Subscriptions add Stripe Billing’s 0.7%. Paywall fees
• LearnWorlds:
  • Starter: $5 per paid enrollment. Higher plans: none.
  • Gateway fees are separate. Pricing

What you keep at three revenue levels

These are our calculations from the fees above. Assumptions:

• an average sale of $50;
• one-time sales;
• US cards;
• monthly billing;
• Stripe standard rates where the platform doesn’t process payments itself.

At $1,000 a month (20 sales):

• Systeme.io Startup $948
• Thinkific Basic $911
• Skool Hobby $885
• Teachable Builder $876
• Skool Pro $866
• LearnWorlds Pro Trainer $866
• Teachable Starter $851
• Circle Professional $846
• LearnWorlds Starter $836
• Kajabi Basic $786

At $5,000 (100 sales):

• Systeme.io Startup $4,808
• Thinkific Basic $4,771
• Teachable Builder $4,736
• Skool Pro $4,726
• LearnWorlds Pro Trainer $4,726
• Kajabi Basic $4,646
• Circle Professional $4,606 (includes 0.4% Stripe Invoicing on one-time sales)
• Skool Hobby $4,461
• Teachable Starter $4,411
• LearnWorlds Starter $4,296

At $20,000 (400 sales):

• Systeme.io Startup $19,283
• Thinkific Basic $19,246
• Teachable Builder $19,211
• Skool Pro $19,201
• LearnWorlds Pro Trainer $19,201
• Kajabi Basic $19,121
• Circle Professional $18,801
• Skool Hobby $17,871
• Teachable Starter $17,761
• LearnWorlds Starter $17,271

What the numbers show:

• Percentage fees beat plan prices as you grow. Skool Hobby wins on plan price at $1,000, but its 10% fee costs about $1,330 more than Pro at $20,000.
• Fixed plan prices hurt most at low revenue. Kajabi Basic’s $179 is 18% of $1,000, but under 1% of $20,000.
• This ranks fees, not features. The cheapest platform isn’t automatically the right one. See our comparisons for fit.

Subscriptions change the order

With 100 recurring payments totalling $5,000 (monthly billing), the 0.7% subscription surcharges apply:

• Kajabi Basic: $4,611
• Thinkific Basic: $4,736
• Teachable Builder: $4,701
• Circle Professional: $4,591
• Unchanged: Systeme.io Startup ($4,808) and Skool Pro ($4,726). Neither adds a subscription surcharge, and LearnWorlds Starter can’t sell subscriptions.

What’s not included

These calculations leave out:

• sales tax, VAT and GST, and the optional tax-handling fees (Teachable +0.5%, Thinkific 0.5%, Kajabi $0.15 per transaction);
• refunds and disputes;
• payout and currency-conversion fees;
• Teachable’s 2% custom-Stripe fee.

Run your own numbers in the fee calculator, and see how we check prices.