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Maven

Marketplace for live cohort courses and workshops taught by experts

FreeCoursesChecked Oct 17, 2026
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Maven, as pictured on maven.com
How Maven presents itself. Image from maven.com.

Maven report card

2.2GPA

Fair · out of 4.0 · graded Oct 17, 2026

Best for live cohort courses taught by working experts

Maven is a marketplace for live cohort courses and workshops: it hosts your landing page, checkout, emails, community and Zoom sessions, and can list you on its discovery site. You pay nothing up front, but it keeps 10% of every sale. Paid courses must cost $200 or more, and Maven, not you, decides refunds.

Who Maven is for

  • Great if you're a working professional teaching a live course on the side
  • Handy when you don't have an audience yet and want marketplace traffic
  • Good for courses that companies pay for, with team and invoice purchases

Who Maven is not for

  • Pricey if you already sell well, as 10% of a busy month is a lot to hand over
  • Not for you if you sell cheap courses, since paid offerings start at $200
  • Skip it if you want to set your own refund rules, as Maven decides them

Why Maven gets a 2.2

Five grades, each with its reason. The GPA is their average: an A is 4 points, an F is none.

  • DValue for moneyNo 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.
  • BFree plan and trialNothing 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.
  • CFeaturesCohort 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.
  • CEase of useNo 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.
  • BPlatforms and integrationsWeb, with Stripe, Zoom, Zapier, Klarna and webhooks for wiring it to other tools. No phone or desktop apps listed.

What these grades rest on. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Maven's own pages on 17 October 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. How we review and grade.

Make Maven? Put this grade on your site
Maven: 2.2 GPA on ToolGPA

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<a href="https://toolgpa.com/tools/maven#review"><img src="https://toolgpa.com/badge/maven.svg" alt="Maven: 2.2 GPA on ToolGPA" width="196" height="56"></a>

Where Maven stands among course and community platforms

Maven's GPA of 2.2 is higher than 4 of the 18 other course and community platforms we grade, and level with 3.

It stands best on free plan and trial (B, above 17 of 18) and worst on value for money (D, above 0).

Maven has no paid plan.

On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.3 out of 4, and no tool on the category's chart scores higher without costing more.

Each grade against the category

Every bar is all 19 course and community platforms we grade, cut by the letter each got. Maven’s own letter is outlined.

  • DValue for moneyAbove 0 of 18, level with 2
  • BFree plan and trialAbove 17 of 18, level with 1
  • CFeaturesAbove 0 of 18, level with 9
  • CEase of useAbove 0 of 18, level with 15
  • BPlatforms and integrationsAbove 0 of 18, level with 17

Price against what you get

Each dot is one of 19 course and community platforms. Further left costs less, and higher up scores better on features, ease of use and platforms. Point at a dot to see which tool it is.

Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged

C2.0B3.0A4.0Free$5$10$20$50$100$200$500More for lessCosts more, scores moreCosts less, scores lessCosts more, scores lessMaven

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
The full chart, and the best course and community platforms at every price

Keep Maven, or make your own?

Keep it

Maven is free, so making your own would save you nothing.

And it is not the kind of software a weekend replaces. That makes this kind of software worth paying for, not this one in particular: 11 of the 18 other course and community platforms grade higher.

What you could make

  • Online courses and surveys: an app builder makes these well.

What you could not

  • Newsletters sent to thousands of people that still reach the inbox.
  • A members' space with posts, chat and events that people keep coming back to.
  • People on the other end: coaches and live sessions. No app builder makes those.

What this rests on. Maven’s listing: what it does, where it runs, what it plugs into and what it costs. It is a judgement about the kind of software this is. We have not built a replacement for it, and making your own means looking after it too. How we decide, and every tool’s verdict.

What is Maven?

Maven is a marketplace where working experts sell live cohort-based courses, one-day workshops, free Lightning Lessons, resources and coaching. Maven hosts the landing page, checkout, emails, student community and Zoom scheduling, and lists courses on its own discovery site. There is no subscription: Maven keeps 10% of each sale.

Maven is free to use. See every plan

Good for

  • 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

Worth knowing

  • 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.

Key features

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.

Maven pricing

Starts at
Free
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.
Free trial
None listed
Teach on Maven$0No subscription. Maven keeps a 10% platform fee on each sale and pays the rest to your Stripe account; paid offerings start at $200.

Read from help.maven.com on Oct 17, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Maven before you buy.

Pricing in detail

Works with

Maven alternatives

All Maven alternatives comparedAll course and community platforms

Common questions

Is Maven free?

Yes. Maven is free to use. 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.

How much does Maven cost?

Maven lists one plan. Teach on Maven: $0. Prices were read from help.maven.com on Oct 17, 2026.

What platforms does Maven work on?

Maven is available on Web.

Does Maven have an Android app?

No Android app was listed when its pages were read on Oct 17, 2026. Maven is listed for Web.

Does Maven have an iPhone app?

No iPhone app was listed when its pages were read on Oct 17, 2026. Maven is listed for Web.

Is Maven open source?

Maven is not described as open source on its own site, as read on Oct 17, 2026.

What does Maven integrate with?

Maven's listing names Stripe, Zoom, Zapier and Klarna. A listing names up to eight integrations, so it may connect to more.

Who makes Maven?

Maven is made by Maven Learning, Inc.

What are the alternatives to Maven?

The closest alternatives to Maven in our directory are Disco, Teachable, Thinkific, Kajabi and Podia. Each one has a side-by-side comparison with Maven.

How does Maven compare with other course and community platforms?

Maven's GPA of 2.2 is higher than 4 of the 18 other course and community platforms we grade, and level with 3. It stands best on free plan and trial (B, above 17 of 18) and worst on value for money (D, above 0).

Is Maven good value for money?

ToolGPA grades Maven D for value for money. Maven has no paid plan. On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.3 out of 4, and no tool on the category's chart scores higher without costing more.

Could I make my own version of Maven?

Maven is free, so making your own would save you nothing. And it is not the kind of software a weekend replaces. That makes this kind of software worth paying for, not this one in particular: 11 of the 18 other course and community platforms grade higher. What you could not make: Newsletters sent to thousands of people that still reach the inbox. A members' space with posts, chat and events that people keep coming back to. People on the other end: coaches and live sessions. No app builder makes those. This is a judgement from its listing. We have not built one.

Sources for this page

The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Oct 17, 2026.