Maven vs Teachable
We give Maven a 2.2 GPA and Teachable a 2.4, out of 4.0. Maven grades higher on the free plan. Teachable grades higher on value for money and ease of use. They get the same grade on features and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Teachable
Online course, coaching and membership platform with its own checkout
How we grade them
| 2.2GPAMavenFair | 2.4GPATeachableFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | DNo subscription, but Maven keeps 10% of each sale, so $2,000 of sales a month costs $200, past where this category's dearest tenth starts ($143). The fee shrinks when sales do, and it pays for a listing on Maven's marketplace and its Student Growth Program. | CStarter is $29 a month billed yearly, but its 7.5% fee adds $150 on $2,000 of sales, making $179. Builder at $69 takes no fee with Teachable Payments, so $69 a month is what you'd pay: above this category's dearer quarter ($59), well short of its dearest tenth. |
| Free plan and trial | BNothing to pay to start: no subscription, and you can publish and sell, with free Lightning Lessons to build a list. Selling isn't free, though: the 10% is graded under value, and paid offerings start at $200. | CNo free plan. There's a 7-day free trial, and the listing doesn't say it needs a card, then a 30-day money-back guarantee once you've paid. |
| Features | CCohort courses, workshops, self-paced cohorts, free Lightning Lessons, automated emails, a cohort community and Zoom scheduling with recordings. It does the live-cohort job fully, but that's a narrower job, with prices from $200 and refunds set by Maven. | CCourses with drip, quizzes and graded short answers, coaching, downloads, memberships, upsells, cart recovery and email. The course job is covered; the gap is community, which is a student community on Builder rather than the spaces and events rivals offer. |
| Ease of use | CNo App Store rating on record. Maven handles the page, checkout and emails, but a live cohort takes a lot of running, and courses are reviewed before they're listed. | B4.62 from about 9,400 App Store ratings, a little under the 4.7 an A needs. The AI course starter drafts a curriculum, so you're not starting from a blank page. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb, with Stripe, Zoom, Zapier, Klarna and webhooks for wiring it to other tools. No phone or desktop apps listed. | BWeb, iPhone and Android for students, with Zapier and webhooks on every plan and a public API on Growth. No desktop app, which an A needs. |
| Best for | live cohort courses taught by working experts | selling courses to students around the world |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Maven and Teachable. How we grade
Price against what you get
Maven has no paid plan and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Teachable starts at $29 a month and scores 2.7.
Teachable scores higher, and starts $29 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other course and community platforms on the chart, none scores higher than Maven for less, and none scores higher than Teachable for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Maven is free. Teachable starts at $29 per month, billed annually ($39 billed monthly).
- Maven has a free plan. Teachable does not, though it has a free trial.
- Only Teachable lists iOS and Android apps.
- Maven also covers surveys and community.
At a glance
| Maven | Teachable | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Free trial |
| Starts at | Free | $29 per month, billed annually ($39 billed monthly) |
| Free plan | No fee to teach. Maven keeps 10% of what each student pays as a platform fee, and Stripe's processing fees come out as well. | None |
| Free trial | None listed | 7-day free trial, plus a 30-day money-back guarantee |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Maven Learning, Inc. | Teachable, Inc. |
| Price read from | help.maven.com | teachable.com |
| Checked | Oct 17, 2026 | Oct 17, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Maven
- Working professionals teaching live courses alongside a day job
- Experts without a large audience who want marketplace traffic
- Courses that companies reimburse, with team and invoice purchases
Teachable
- Creators selling courses to students in many countries who want tax handled
- Teachers adding coaching or downloads beside a course
- Schools whose students learn on their phones
Worth knowing
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.
Teachable
- Starter takes 7.5% of each sale on top of processing fees: 2.9% + 30 cents for US cards, 3.9% + 30 cents for international cards.
- There is no free plan, only a 7-day free trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
- Certificates, removing Teachable branding and more than 1 admin user all need Growth at $139 a month billed annually.
- Products are capped at 5, 10 and 50 by plan; memberships, bundles and drafts do not count.
Key features
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.
Teachable
- Courses, coaching and downloads
- Video and text courses with drip content, auto-graded quizzes and short-answer assessments, plus 1:1 or group coaching, digital downloads and memberships.
- Teachable Payments
- Built-in checkout with 35+ local payment methods that collects and remits sales tax, VAT and GST in 45+ countries, with daily payouts.
- Sales tools
- Coupons, upsells, order bumps, bundles, abandoned cart emails and built-in email marketing. The affiliate program starts on Builder.
- AI course tools
- An AI course starter drafts a curriculum, a generator turns lessons into quizzes, and videos get subtitles translated into 70+ languages on Growth.
- Student apps
- Students reach their courses on the web or in Teachable's iOS and Android apps, which are included on every plan.
- Integrations and API
- Zapier and webhooks on every plan, and a public API on Growth with 10,000 requests a month.
Plans
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.
Teachable
Starter$29
per month, billed annually ($39 billed monthly)
5 products, 1 admin user, AI tools, student apps, upsells and cart recovery. Teachable takes a 7.5% transaction fee on each sale.
Builder$69
per month, billed annually ($89 billed monthly)
10 products, 1 admin user, no transaction fee with Teachable Payments, a student community, an affiliate program and real-time support.
Growth$139
per month, billed annually ($189 billed monthly)
50 products, 5 admin users, certificates, no Teachable branding, student imports, custom admin permissions, subtitles and translations.
CustomCustom
For high-volume schools: flexible product and admin seats, a sandbox school, a success manager, priority support and migration help.
Ways to pay less
Maven
No public discounts listed.
Teachable
- Annual discount
Save 22% with yearly billing
Teachable's pricing page says yearly billing saves 22%: Starter $29 a month instead of $39, Builder $69 instead of $89, Growth $139 instead of $189.
