Selling a course online: subscriptions, fees and plan limits
Compare annual commitments, processing fees and course limits. Thinkific, Systeme.io, Kit and beehiiv serve different selling needs.
Put the two prices next to each other first
Thinkific's official 2026 pricing update lists Start at $109 monthly or $978 billed annually. Its $82 monthly equivalent is rounded; multiplying it by twelve does not reproduce the annual invoice. Systeme.io's pricing selector displays Startup at $17 monthly or $170 annually.
The annual base subscriptions differ by $808 ($978 minus $170), before taxes, payment processing and extras. These are different feature sets, not interchangeable purchases. Amounts in this guide are USD; confirm the selected plan and total before paying.
Pay for a required feature, not a general promise
Thinkific Basic is $475 billed annually. Basic does include video lessons. Its pricing comparison places completion certificates, assignments, private courses and the in-course Zoom integration in Start rather than Basic.
Check the specific teaching and assessment workflow you need. A completion certificate is not a promise of professional accreditation, and these features do not establish that every seller needs Start or that other platforms lack a suitable approach.
Separate platform fees from payment processing
Systeme.io advertises 0% platform transaction fees, but its course page explicitly leaves payment processor fees separate. beehiiv likewise advertises a 0% take rate on paid subscriptions while excluding Stripe processing fees.
A 0% platform fee therefore does not mean fee-free payments. Check the processor, country, currency, payment method, refunds and any third-party gateway charges that apply to your account. Do not assume one advertised card rate covers every buyer.
Use a sales example, not a revenue prediction
For illustration only, a hypothetical 5% platform fee on $20,000 of annual sales would be $1,000. That is not a claimed rate for any platform here, and $20,000 is not a forecast of your sales.
Compare total annual cost as subscription + platform fees + payment processing + required add-ons. Use your own sales volume and order count. A higher base subscription can still be the better fit if it includes features you would otherwise have to buy or manage separately.
Check course, contact and funnel limits separately
Systeme.io's comparison table lists 5,000 contacts, 5 courses and 10 sales funnels for Startup. Its FAQ on the same page says unlimited funnels. Because these official statements conflict, we do not promise unlimited funnels: ask the vendor to confirm the limit for the plan you will buy.
The Free table lists 2,000 contacts, 3 funnels, 1 course and 500 students; another section on the page advertises unlimited students on all plans. Confirm the student limit as well. Contact capacity alone does not prove that all those people can be enrolled students.
An email audience is not the same as a course platform
Kit Free supports up to 10,000 subscribers. Kit Creator is $390 billed yearly at the 1,000-subscriber tier and is an email platform that can sell digital products. beehiiv Free supports up to 2,500 subscribers; Lite starts at $49 a month billed yearly, $588 a year, at 1,000 subscribers, and pricing increases with subscriber count.
These audience limits do not establish learning-management features or course capacity. Systeme.io combines funnels, email and courses; Thinkific focuses on learning products. Check content delivery, assessments and learner access before assuming a newsletter tool replaces a course platform.
Check both kinds of cancellation
Read the current subscription and cancellation documents before prepaying. Thinkific's 2026 pricing notice describes cancellation and possible jurisdiction-dependent refunds; a missing refund statement on a pricing card is not evidence that no refund rights exist.
Thinkific also warns that cancelling the site owner's subscription does not automatically stop learners' recurring payments. Seller billing and learner billing are separate. Plan student access and recurring-payment changes before closing a teaching site. This is document-based pricing research, not a hands-on review or personalised legal advice.
Questions
Does 0% transaction fees mean I keep the entire payment?
No. A platform's 0% take rate can exclude payment processing, currency conversion and other account-specific charges. Read both the platform and processor terms.
Does Systeme.io Startup include unlimited funnels?
Its current comparison table shows 10; its FAQ says unlimited. We cannot resolve that conflict from the public page. Confirm the allowance with the vendor before buying.
Is the $808 annual difference a like-for-like saving?
No. It subtracts the two published base subscription totals, $978 and $170. The plans have different feature sets, limits and possible additional costs.
Does cancelling Thinkific stop my learners' subscriptions?
Thinkific's cancellation guide says learners' recurring payments can continue. Review those payments separately before cancelling or deleting the site owner's account.
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