Creator commerce

Should you build your own Teachable?

Online course platform for creators to sell lessons, coaching, and digital products

With trade-offs · the basics, with limitations
Price $39/moEstimated savings $348/yrEstimated time multi-dayCategory Creator commerceCatalog votes 0

A basic course site with Stripe can be built, but student apps, tax/payments, course compliance, certificates, upsells, affiliates, and support make full parity hard.

ENOriginal research content in English. Original prompt preserved in English.

The complete prompt
Build me a single-course sales site to replace Teachable, for one course of mine. Requirements:

- Node + Express + better-sqlite3 on my VPS behind Caddy. Course content is Markdown
  in content/: one folder per module, one file per lesson, front matter points at an
  optional video file.
- Public landing page: course outline, price, and a Buy button that goes to Stripe
  Checkout (keys in .env). The Stripe webhook marks the buyer's email as enrolled.
- Student login by magic link: enter email, receive a signed login link via SMTP
  creds in .env. No passwords, no OAuth.
- Lesson pages are gated by enrollment; videos are MP4s served through the app with
  short-lived signed URLs so direct links expire.
- Progress: a mark-complete button per lesson and a progress bar per module, stored
  per student in SQLite.
- Receipts come from Stripe; do not build invoicing or tax logic (turn on Stripe Tax
  if needed).
- Out of scope: multiple courses, affiliates, certificates, upsells, coupons, and
  mobile apps. This sells and delivers one course.
- README: Stripe webhook setup, Caddy snippet, where videos live on disk, and an
  honest note that a VPS handles a small audience fine but a big launch needs real
  video hosting like Bunny.net.

The prompt opens pre-filled in your agent. Review it before running. · this prompt is generated from the build plan · improve it via PR

Original prompt preserved in English.

What would building your own look like?

Build lessons/modules, student login, progress tracking, Stripe checkout, and gated course pages.

What you will need

Why paying can still make sense

They pay because course businesses need checkout, access, progress, and support to just work.

What you lose

xstudent apps

xpayments/tax workflows

xcertificates

xupsells

xaffiliates

xsupport

xcourse compliance features

Share on X ↗"I just replaced Teachable ($39/mo) with one prompt"
Free alternatives

Prefer something ready-made?

Odoo CommunityA website, course catalog, forums and payments inside an ERP; subtle it is not.54kAug 2026Open source↗MoodleThe most complete free LMS here, with the least creator-friendly first impression.7.3kAug 2026Open source↗Frappe LearningCourses, cohorts, assignments, quizzes, certificates and payments in a modern UI; coaching workflows are lighter.3.1kJul 2026Open source↗

View all 6 alternatives to Teachable →· Licença, instalação e limitações em cada alternativa.

Plans and pricing

How much does Teachable cost?

In your currency · US DollarChecked on 10/20/2026
Monthly billing
$39/mo
Per year
$468/yr
Annual billing
$348/yr26% cheaper than paying monthly
Buy on the official site

You complete the purchase on Teachable’s site. Vibe Radar does not handle payments.

PlanMonthlyAnnual (per month)What is included
starter$39/workspace$29/workspace5 published products; 1 admin; 100 active students; 5 imported students; 1 TB video storage
builder$89/workspace$69/workspace10 published products; 1 admin; 1,000 active students; 50 imported students; 1 TB video storage
growth$189/workspace$139/workspace50 published products; 5 admins; 5,000 active students; 1,000 imported students; 1 TB video storage
customcustom-Custom product, student, admin, support, and service limits

Free tierno free tier; 7-day trial only

Billing termsmonthly + annual (annual prices shown as effective monthly rates; about 22% lower)

Additional costsStarter adds a 7.5% platform fee; payment processing is 2.9%+$0.30 US cards, 3.9%+$0.30 international cards, 3.49%+$0.49 US PayPal, and 4.99%+$0.49 international PayPal; $15 chargebacks; optional BackOffice adds 2%–2.8%. Student caps are removed only after $10,000 in direct annual sales.

verified 2026-08-10 · source ↗

Build or buy

Is it cheaper to build or buy Teachable?

Adjust the numbers: hours to build, your hourly rate, running costs and the subscription price.

Subscribe
Build it yourself
Horizon
Subscribe$696
Build it yourself$3,320

Over 24 months, subscribing is cheaper.

Starting hours estimated from the analysis (multi-day). Does not price what you give up (support, integrations, security).

Frequently asked questions
Can I rebuild Teachable?

Kinda. The core of Teachable is buildable in a weekend with the prompt on this page, but there are real gaps: student apps, payments/tax workflows. Read the honest list above before committing.

How much does Teachable cost?

Teachable costs about $39/mo (Starter, checked 10/20/2026), which is $348 per year.

What do I lose by replacing Teachable?

Honestly: student apps; payments/tax workflows; certificates; upsells; affiliates; support; course compliance features. If any of those are load-bearing for you, keep paying.

Is there an open-source alternative to Teachable?

Yes: Odoo Community (A website, course catalog, forums and payments inside an ERP; subtle it is not.) Moodle (The most complete free LMS here, with the least creator-friendly first impression.) Frappe Learning (Courses, cohorts, assignments, quizzes, certificates and payments in a modern UI; coaching workflows are lighter.) All 6 curated free alternatives are at https://viberadar.si/teachable/alternatives. The prompt is for when you want it exactly your way.

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