Payhip and Teachable can both sell digital products, but they are built around different kinds of businesses. Payhip is fundamentally a digital-product storefront: you can sell downloads, courses, memberships and other products and send customers directly to the relevant sales page. Teachable is more education-led, with a larger emphasis on courses, students, coaching and the learning experience around the product.
That distinction matters more than simply comparing the headline subscription prices. If you're selling a growing catalogue of templates, printables, ebooks or other downloads, you may value a simple storefront and low-friction product links. If your business revolves around structured courses and students, the calculation changes. Here's how the two platforms compare on the things that actually affect a solo digital-product business.
At a glance
| Feature | Payhip | Teachable |
|---|---|---|
| Digital downloads | Yes | Yes |
| Courses | Yes | Yes |
| Memberships | Yes | Yes |
| Coaching | Yes | Yes |
| Published product limits | Unlimited products on all published plans | 5, 10, 50 or 100 depending on published plan |
| Own storefront / sales pages | Yes | Yes |
| Marketplace discovery | Yes — Payhip Marketplace | No equivalent cross-creator marketplace; its catalogue is for products within your own school |
| EU / UK VAT handling | Payhip says it automatically collects and remits EU and UK VAT | Teachable Payments automatically calculates, collects and remits VAT in supported circumstances |
Current plan information: Payhip pricing and Teachable pricing.
Payhip pricing
Payhip currently publishes three plans. The interesting thing about its structure is that the plans are not separated by a long list of locked features. Payhip says all three plans include all features, unlimited products and unlimited revenue. The main difference is the combination of monthly subscription and Payhip's own transaction fee.
- Free Forever: $0/month + 5% transaction fee.
- Plus: $29/month + 2% transaction fee.
- Pro: $99/month + no Payhip transaction fee.
Payhip also explicitly says that PayPal and Stripe still charge their standard rates on transactions. Those processor charges are separate from Payhip's own 5%, 2% or 0% platform fee and apply across all three Payhip plans.
That makes Payhip fairly easy to model. At the beginning, you can avoid a monthly subscription and accept the higher percentage. As sales become substantial enough, the Plus or Pro subscription can reduce the platform percentage you pay on every transaction.
Teachable pricing
Teachable's current published pricing has four plan levels: Starter, Builder, Growth and Advanced. There is also a Custom option for higher-volume education businesses, with pricing handled by Teachable's sales team rather than displayed as a standard public subscription price.
- Starter: $39/month when billed monthly, or $29/month when billed annually. It includes 5 products and a 7.5% transaction fee.
- Builder: $89/month monthly, or $69/month annually. It includes 10 products and a 0% base transaction fee.
- Growth: $189/month monthly, or $139/month annually. It includes 50 products and a 0% base transaction fee.
- Advanced: $399/month monthly, or $309/month annually. It includes 100 products and a 0% base transaction fee.
- Custom: pricing is handled through Teachable's sales team for high-volume education businesses.
Teachable currently describes its product limits in terms of published products. A course, coaching offer or digital download counts as a product, while memberships and bundles do not count toward the published-product limit. Teachable also provides a 7-day trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee on its published plans.
One important distinction is that Teachable's 0% transaction fee on Builder, Growth and Advanced is the platform's base transaction fee. Standard payment-processing charges can still apply. Teachable explicitly separates its platform transaction fee from processing fees.
What does each platform take from a $20 sale?
The safest way to compare a single transaction is to separate the platform's own fee from payment processing. Processor charges depend on the payment setup, so combining them into one supposedly universal percentage can give a misleading impression.
| Platform | Plan | Monthly price | Platform fee on $20 | Payment processing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Payhip | Free Forever | $0 | $1.00 | PayPal / Stripe standard rate, separately charged |
| Payhip | Plus | $29 | $0.40 | PayPal / Stripe standard rate, separately charged |
| Payhip | Pro | $99 | $0.00 | PayPal / Stripe standard rate, separately charged |
| Teachable | Starter | $39 monthly / $29 annual billing | $1.50 | Standard processing fees may apply |
| Teachable | Builder | $89 monthly / $69 annual billing | $0.00 | Standard processing fees may apply |
| Teachable | Growth | $189 monthly / $139 annual billing | $0.00 | Standard processing fees may apply |
| Teachable | Advanced | $399 monthly / $309 annual billing | $0.00 | Standard processing fees may apply |
The platform-fee maths is direct: $20 × 5% = $1.00; $20 × 2% = $0.40; $20 × 7.5% = $1.50. The payment-processing column deliberately does not invent a universal figure, because both companies distinguish their own platform fee from payment-processing charges and the applicable processor cost depends on the payment setup.
Platform-fee-only comparison at three sales levels
To isolate the percentage difference, the figures below look only at the platform transaction fee. They do not include monthly subscriptions or payment processing.
- $500/month in sales: Payhip Free Forever = $25; Payhip Plus = $10; Payhip Pro = $0; Teachable Starter = $37.50; Teachable Builder, Growth and Advanced = $0.
- $2,000/month in sales: Payhip Free Forever = $100; Payhip Plus = $40; Payhip Pro = $0; Teachable Starter = $150; Teachable Builder, Growth and Advanced = $0.
- $5,000/month in sales: Payhip Free Forever = $250; Payhip Plus = $100; Payhip Pro = $0; Teachable Starter = $375; Teachable Builder, Growth and Advanced = $0.
There is an important catch in those numbers: a $0 platform transaction fee does not mean a transaction costs nothing. The monthly subscription and payment-processing charges still exist. This is simply a way of seeing the platform's percentage charge on its own.
When does Payhip Plus make sense?
Payhip Plus reduces Payhip's own transaction fee from 5% to 2%. That's a saving of 3 percentage points on sales.
Break-even sales = $29 monthly subscription ÷ 0.03 = $966.67 in monthly sales.
So, looking only at Payhip's own transaction fee, $966.67 in monthly sales is the point where the 3% saving equals the $29 Plus subscription.
For example, at $500 in monthly sales, the Free Forever plan would incur $25 in Payhip transaction fees, whereas Plus would incur $10 plus its $29 subscription. The Plus plan therefore has $39 of combined monthly Payhip cost at that sales level, compared with $25 on the Free Forever plan.
At $2,000 in monthly sales, Free Forever would incur $100 in Payhip transaction fees. Plus would incur $40 in transaction fees plus $29 subscription cost, for $69 in combined Payhip charges. The $31 difference illustrates why the break-even calculation becomes useful once sales grow.
Payhip Pro can be analysed against Plus in the same way. Pro eliminates the 2% Payhip transaction fee, so the $99 monthly subscription equals the saved percentage at $99 ÷ 0.02 = $4,950 in monthly sales.
Payhip's marketplace and discovery features
Payhip has a genuine cross-store marketplace, which is an important difference for small digital-product sellers. Payhip says the marketplace recommends products to prospective customers outside an existing audience.
There is an eligibility process. Payhip currently says a store must have made at least $10 in total sales and have been reviewed by its accounts team before the store can be eligible for marketplace listing. Individual products then need approval.
Payhip also says marketplace sales do not carry an additional marketplace fee. The normal Payhip transaction fee for the seller's plan continues to apply.
That does not mean you should build an entire business around marketplace discovery. It is better thought of as another possible source of exposure alongside Pinterest, search, email, social media, direct links and other traffic sources.
Teachable's marketplace and discovery equivalent
Teachable's current discovery model is different. It has a Browse Products page that acts as the product catalogue for an individual school. Students can search, sort and filter the products that school offers.
Teachable's documentation also describes an Explore area in the student dashboard for discovering products a student has not enrolled in. Categories can be used to organise the catalogue, and products can be made visible or hidden from the public catalogue.
That's useful if you are building a multi-product Teachable school. But it isn't the same thing as a cross-creator marketplace where an unknown shopper can browse products from many independent sellers. For a seller specifically interested in marketplace discovery outside their own audience, Payhip has the more directly comparable feature.
Tax and VAT handling on both platforms
For a UK seller, tax handling deserves more attention than a simple pricing comparison usually gives it.
Payhip's current pricing information says it automatically collects and remits EU and UK VAT on your behalf. Payhip also allows sellers to configure other taxes, with the platform reporting those taxes to the seller.
Teachable Payments takes a similar approach in supported circumstances. Teachable says it automatically calculates, collects and remits sales tax, EU and UK VAT, and digital-content taxes across additional markets. Its documentation specifically says that, where Teachable Payments collects EU or UK VAT, the creator does not need to remit those collected VAT amounts to the tax authorities directly.
The payment setup matters. Teachable says creators using a Custom Payment Gateway are responsible for collecting and remitting taxes themselves, whereas Teachable Payments handles tax calculation, collection and remittance in the supported markets described by Teachable.
Neither platform removes every tax responsibility from the business. Income tax, business reporting and other obligations can remain yours, and the platforms themselves advise sellers to obtain professional tax advice where necessary.
Cheaper for your own traffic
If you're bringing your own customers, the value of a marketplace becomes less central. Your platform is essentially the machinery behind the sale: product page, checkout, payment, delivery and customer experience.
That's where Payhip's model is particularly straightforward. You can begin at $0/month, put your products in a storefront and send customers directly to individual product pages. You don't need to pay a monthly subscription simply to access a separate basic feature tier because Payhip says all of its plans include all features.
Teachable can be excellent for the same direct-traffic model when what you're selling is fundamentally education. Its course infrastructure, student management, memberships, coaching and learning tools become more important when the product isn't just a file that needs to be delivered after checkout.
So the comparison changes depending on what your traffic is buying. If a Pinterest visitor is clicking through to purchase a $12 template, you may care most about storefront simplicity and the cost structure. If that same visitor is buying a structured eight-module course with a student account and ongoing learning experience, Teachable's broader platform becomes much more relevant.
For Pinterest Sellers Specifically
For me, Pinterest is one of the long-standing ways I'd look at driving traffic to Payhip sales pages. I like the simple chain: create a useful pin around a specific search or problem, let the pin do the discovery work, and send the click straight to the relevant product rather than making the visitor hunt around for it.
That approach is particularly natural for a catalogue of templates, printables, guides and other individual digital products. A pin can answer a very specific search intent, while the Payhip page gives that visitor one clear next step.
Teachable can obviously receive Pinterest traffic too. The difference is what happens behind the click. If the destination is a course or coaching offer, Teachable's education-focused environment can make a lot of sense. If the destination is one small downloadable product among many, Payhip's direct-store model is worth considering.
The key is not Pinterest itself. It's keeping the path from discovery to the exact product you're selling as simple as possible.
Disclosure: this page may contain a referral link. If you sign up to Payhip through that link, the site owner may earn a commission. Payhip's Free Forever plan currently costs $0 to join, although Payhip transaction fees and separate payment-processor charges can apply when you make sales.
If Pinterest is going to bring the visitor, give that click a simple route to the product.
The Practical Difference
- Payhip is built around selling products. Its model is particularly straightforward for downloads, templates, printables, ebooks, courses and memberships.
- Teachable is built around education businesses. Courses, coaching, student accounts and structured learning are central to the platform.
- Payhip has three simple published plans. The main financial difference is the subscription versus Payhip transaction fee, while Payhip says all plans include all features.
- Teachable has four published plan levels. Starter charges a 7.5% transaction fee, while Builder, Growth and Advanced have a 0% base transaction fee.
- Payhip has unlimited products on every published plan. Teachable currently uses published-product limits on its published plan tiers.
- Payhip has a cross-store marketplace. It can provide an additional discovery route after a store meets the marketplace requirements.
- Teachable has its own product catalogue. Its Browse Products system helps students discover products within an individual school, rather than acting as a general cross-creator marketplace.
- Both platforms separate platform fees from payment processing. A 0% platform transaction fee should not be interpreted as a transaction with no processing cost.
- Both provide significant VAT and tax handling. The exact treatment depends on the payment setup and the jurisdiction involved.
- For Pinterest-led product businesses, the direct-link model matters. The important question is how easily a pin can move someone from a specific search or idea to the exact product they came to see.
FAQ
1. Is Payhip actually free to start?
Payhip currently publishes a Free Forever plan at $0/month. It carries a 5% Payhip transaction fee, while PayPal or Stripe processing charges can also apply. So the absence of a monthly subscription does not mean sales have no costs.
2. Does Teachable have a free plan?
Teachable currently describes itself as a paid service with a 7-day free trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee. It does not publish an ongoing $0/month creator plan on its current pricing page.
3. Is Payhip or Teachable better for digital downloads?
Both support digital downloads. Payhip is centred more directly on the product-store journey, while Teachable puts downloads alongside courses, coaching and other education products. The more education-led the business becomes, the more relevant Teachable's broader learning tools are.
4. Does Payhip charge a monthly fee?
Payhip has a $0/month Free Forever plan. Its Plus plan is $29/month and its Pro plan is $99/month. The higher plans reduce or eliminate Payhip's own transaction fee.
5. When does Payhip Plus break even?
Compared with Free Forever, Plus saves 3 percentage points in Payhip transaction fees. The calculation is $29 ÷ 0.03 = $966.67 in monthly sales. That is the break-even point based solely on Payhip's own platform fee.
6. Does Teachable's 0% transaction fee mean there are no transaction costs?
No. Teachable's 0% figure refers to its base platform transaction fee on Builder, Growth and Advanced when using the qualifying payment setup. Standard payment-processing fees can still apply.
7. Can I send Pinterest traffic to either platform?
Yes. Pinterest can send visitors to external sales pages on either platform. The practical question is what the visitor is buying. Payhip is particularly natural for a direct route to individual downloads and digital products, while Teachable becomes especially relevant when the destination is a course, coaching programme, membership or broader learning experience.
Final thoughts
Payhip and Teachable are both capable digital-selling platforms, but they solve slightly different problems.
Payhip's appeal is its straightforward product-store model. The Free Forever plan gives a seller a $0/month starting point, the published plans all include the same feature set, and the transaction-fee structure makes it relatively easy to work out when moving to Plus or Pro becomes financially relevant.
Teachable is more substantial as an education platform. Its published plans cost more, but the platform puts much more emphasis on courses, student management, coaching, memberships, learning tools and the experience around teaching something rather than simply delivering a file.
For someone selling templates, printables, ebooks and other downloadable products — particularly if traffic is coming from Pinterest or another external source — Payhip's direct storefront and marketplace are highly relevant considerations. For a business where the digital product is fundamentally a structured educational experience, Teachable's wider education toolkit may matter more than the difference in platform fees.
The useful question is therefore not simply which platform has the lower headline price. Ask what you are actually building. If you're building a shop around individual digital products, Payhip is designed around that journey. If you're building an education business around students and structured learning, Teachable is designed around that one.