Maven vs Pathwright (2026): which should you pick?

Pick Maven if

• Fits if you're a working professional teaching a live course on the side
• Works for courses that companies pay for, with team and invoice purchases

Look elsewhere if

• Pricey if you already sell well, as 10% of a $2,000 month is $200
• Not for you if you sell low-priced courses, since paid offerings start at $200
• Skip it if you want to set your own refund rules, as Maven decides them
• Watch out: the Student Growth Program is on by default and can discount a course by up to 30%
• Watch out: courses are reviewed before listing, refunds don't return Stripe's fee, and there's no phone app

Pick Pathwright if

• Fits if you teach in cohorts and want each lesson laid out as steps
• Works for course makers who want discussion inside each step

Look elsewhere if

• Tight if you run many cohorts, since Starter allows 1 per course and Essentials 3
• Pricey if you grow: past 1,000 members, extra member blocks are added to the monthly bill automatically
• Watch out: Stripe charges 2.9% plus $0.30 per course sale
• Watch out: the public pricing page loads its figures with JavaScript, so these prices come from the help centre, where Starter shows a $99 monthly fee

Maven

• Maven keeps 10% of every sale, and Stripe fees (2.9% + $0.30 for US cards) come out too; refunds return Maven's fee but not Stripe's.
• Paid offerings must be priced at $200 or more, and courses are reviewed before they are listed on the marketplace.
• Experts are enrolled in the Student Growth Program by default, which can discount a course by up to 30%; opting out is by email.
• Maven, not the expert, decides refunds: students get a full refund up to the course's halfway point.

Pathwright

• Plans include 1,000 members; beyond that, extra member blocks are added to the monthly bill automatically.
• Cohorts per course are limited to 1 on Starter and 3 on Essentials; unlimited cohorts start on Complete.
• Stripe charges 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction on course sales, according to the vendor's help center.
• The public pricing page loads its figures with JavaScript, so these prices come from the vendor's help center.

Maven

Cohort courses and workshops

Sell multi-week live courses, one-day workshops, self-paced cohorts, resources and coaching from one expert profile and landing page builder.

Free Lightning Lessons

Short free live sessions that collect sign-ups and feed them into the email list for a paid course or workshop.

Built-in email campaigns

Pre-written automated emails go to waitlisted, applying and dropped-off students, and announcements email the whole cohort.

Cohort community

Each course comes with channels for announcements, discussion, intros and questions, plus project submissions and course content in one place.

Zoom and calendar scheduling

Connect a Zoom account to create meeting links for every session, auto-record them and publish recordings to students.

Marketplace listing and promotion

Reviewed courses appear on Maven's discovery site, and the Student Growth Program runs sales, referrals, affiliates and ads for a share of revenue.

Pathwright

Path Designer

Lay out a course visually as a Path of Steps, with a source Path that new cohorts start from.

Interactive blocks

More than 30 block types for media, text, questions, quizzes and project uploads.

Cohorts

Teach one Path to several groups, each with its own teachers, schedule, discussions and price.

Discussion inside Steps

Discussion prompts sit within each Step instead of a separate forum.

Progress tracking

A per-learner view of where each person stopped, and CSV exports of progress and grades.

Selling

Sell publicly or privately through Stripe, with no fee from Pathwright on course sales.

Maven

• Teach on Maven$0

  No subscription. Maven keeps a 10% platform fee on each sale and pays the rest to your Stripe account; paid offerings start at $200.

Pathwright

• Starter$89

  per month for up to 1,000 members, billed annually ($99 monthly)

  1 administrator, unlimited courses with 1 active cohort each, 1 Mentor Group. Extra staff $2 a month each; extra members from $49 per 500.

• Essentials$179

  per month for up to 1,000 members, billed annually ($199 monthly)

  5 staff. Adds custom domain, Zapier, 1 subscription plan, 3 active cohorts per course, 5 Mentor Groups. Extra staff $4 a month each.

• Complete$449

  per month for up to 1,000 members, billed annually ($499 monthly)

  20 staff. Unlimited cohorts, several subscription plans, certificates, 20 Mentor Groups. Extra staff $9 a month each.

• Enterprise$1,349

  per month and up for 1,000 members, billed annually ($1,499 monthly)

  50 staff. Adds single sign-on, GraphQL API access, priority support and custom integrations. Extra staff $12 a month each.

Maven

No public discounts listed.

Pathwright

• Annual discount

  10% off with annual payment

  Paying 12 months up front takes 10% off the standard plan price.

• Education

  Scholarships

  Classroom teachers, parents teaching at home and nonprofits can apply for a scholarship on Starter, Essentials or Complete; it does not stack with the annual discount.