— TEACHABLE vs PATREON

Create it, share it, and teach it

With the tools to create engaging learning experience (including community) on Teachable, you can grow your impact and income sustainably.

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Why Teachable wins out

Teachable empowers you to build a truly scalable business as a creator.

Multiple ways to create

Don’t just share your passion—teach it. Teachable gives you new ways to monetize your content: with courses, coaching, memberships, communities, and digital downloads. So you can create one-of-a-kind learning experiences for your audience.

A smarter way to sell

Only on Teachable, teachable:pay is complete with tools to help you drive sales and automate your business—including upsells, affiliate marketing, and automatic tax handling. We even collect and remit both EU/UK VAT and US sales tax.

Keep more of your earnings

With Patreon’s standard 5% transaction fee, the more you earn, the more they take. On most Teachable plans, you’ll pay 0% additional transaction fees* (outside of the standard processing fees).

*when using a Teachable payment gateway

Trusted by companies including:

For creators who don't compromise

On Teachable, you don't have to choose between impact and income

Wondering how to build reliable earnings while still providing value to your audience? That’s where we come in. Focus on creating. Let us focus on simple business automation, intuitive content creation features, and powerful selling tools.

All of your learning products in one place to make growing your income easy

Compare Teachable vs Patreon

Features

Teachable

Patreon

Built-in community functionality

Online courses and coaching

Unlimited native video hosting

Student dashboard & progress tracking

Advanced pricing features

SSO login access & admin seats

Offer multiple product types (courses, digital downloads, memberships, community, coaching programs)

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More options

There’s more than one way to share your talent

Your fans want to learn from you. Give them what they want by offering courses, coaching, memberships, community, and more—all in one place with one login on Teachable.

Greater selling power

Trust your business with ecommerce tools designed for creators.

Teachable gives you a full suite of products and built-in sales features so you can get more out of each customer. Drive sales with upsells, coupons, referrals, and more.

Less tax stress

Leave the tax complexity to us.

We calculate, collect, and remit sales taxes on your behalf, so you don't have to deal with (or pay for) additional accounting work. Plus, take your business global with tax-inclusive pricing.

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The reason why I chose Teachable is because I really felt like they were made for creators. The back end was really simple for me too, which was a huge priority. I created my entire course within 60 days.

Dara Denney

Performance Creative Accelerator

You can package your available handouts and it can become its own thing. You can even make a quickstart version of your course as a very attractive lead magnet."

Darnell Brown

Bulletproof Hustle

When I found Teachable, it was just a beautiful marriage between us two. It was such a simple platform to use. It was affordable. I just love the interface. It was just so simple to figure it out.

Sade Kelly

The Fire Inside

Creators who want more want Teachable

Grow your business and your income on Teachable

Start for free

Some helpful resources to get your started

Earn more with teachable:pay

Create a personal brand

Cultivate a thriving community

Get our sales playbook

Guide to recurring revenue

Create a membership course

Frequently asked questions

What types of products can I sell on Teachable?

You can create and sell online courses, coaching services, memberships, private community spaces, and digital downloads (including templates, audio files, ebooks, how-to guides, and so much more*). That means you can offer a complete suite of learning products at a variety of price points—individually, bundled together, or both—all in one place.
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*Supported file types for digital downloads are listed below.
Documents: .pdf, .txt, .doc, .docx, .epub
Spreadsheets: .xls, .xlsx, .csvI
mages: .jpg, .gif, .png, .tif, .webp
Audio: .mp3, .m4a, .aac

Additionally, you can offer digital download content through a direct link, rather than an uploaded file. This means you can sell any content you might have on Canva, Google Workspace, Notion, and other external sites.

Do I need a website if I have Teachable?

No—you can build one on Teachable using our convenient, intuitive site builder. However, if you do have an existing website you plan on using, we make it super easy with a dedicated WordPress plugin and embedded checkout functionality to sell your products directly on any other site.

How does Teachable compare to Patreon in terms of video capabilities?

Teachable provides unlimited native video hosting with support for 720p and 1080p resolutions, including video analytics and unlimited storage on all paid plans. Patreon is experimenting with a native video player option, currently still in limited release.

When I'm ready to upgrade, what's the refund policy?

New customers are entitled to a full no-questions-asked refund within 30 days.