Own Platform vs Course Marketplace: Fees, Audience and Control

Before you sell a single lesson online, you have to decide where your business lives. There are two broad families: marketplaces (Udemy is the classic example), which lend you their audience in exchange for a share of each sale, and own platforms (Kajabi, Teachable, GetCourse and similar), where you pay a fee and the audience is yours. This article compares both models using the fees each company publishes, and says plainly when a marketplace is the better choice.

One warning first: fees change often. Every figure below was read on the official pages on 14 October 2026; check them again before you decide.

What each company publishes (read on 2026-10-14)

Udemy: I could not read the figure

The official Udemy instructor revenue share page returned a 403 error (access denied) when fetched, and so did the instructor terms. For that reason I quote no Udemy percentage: I could not verify it at the source. What is structural to any marketplace is that the split depends on how the student arrived (internal search, your own link, platform promotions) and that the final price is shaped by the marketplace's own promotions. Read that page and the instructor terms before running numbers.

Kajabi: high flat fee, no revenue share

According to Kajabi's pricing page, plans cost $179 a month (Basic), $249 (Growth) and $499 (Pro) billed monthly, or $143, $199 and $399 a month billed annually. The page says the platform takes no revenue share. Processing with Kajabi Payments is 2.9% + $0.30 on Basic, 2.8% + $0.30 on Growth and 2.7% + $0.30 on Pro; those figures apply to US entities, and other countries' fees sit on a linked help page. If you use an outside payment provider (PayPal excepted), a 2%, 1% or 0.5% fee is added depending on the plan. Limits matter too: 5 products and 2,500 contacts on Basic, 50 and 25,000 on Growth.

Teachable: the fee depends on the plan

Teachable's pricing page lists Starter at $39 a month ($29 billed annually) with a 7.5% transaction fee, Builder at $89 ($69 annual) and Growth at $189 ($139 annual), both with a 0%* transaction fee when using Teachable Payments. The asterisk points to a condition the page does not spell out, and standard processing fees still apply: 2.9% + $0.30 on US cards and 3.9% + $0.30 on international cards, and more through PayPal (3.49% + $0.49 US, 4.99% + $0.49 international). A chargeback costs $15.

GetCourse: flat fee in euros, no declared commission

GetCourse's pricing page shows three plans by number of active users: Starter (1,000 users, 20 GB) at 70 euros a month, Amateur (2,000, 30 GB) at 120 and Professional (5,000, 50 GB) at 235, with discounts for 3 and 12 month periods. The page states 0% commission on sales; payment providers charge their own rates. Two details: there is no refund once a paid plan starts, and if you exceed the user limit you have 7 days to change plan. The page does not make clear whether the amounts include VAT, and its storage figures differ between sections, so confirm with them directly.

Stripe: the cost of collecting payments yourself

If you charge through your own Stripe account, the published rates for Spain are 1.5% + 0.25 euros for standard EEA cards, 2.8% + 0.25 for premium EEA cards, 2.5% + 0.25 for UK cards and 3.15% + 0.25 for international cards, with an extra 2% when currency conversion is needed. This is the real floor of any own platform, because nobody processes payments for free.

Hypothetical math

The figures below are an invented example to illustrate, not a forecast. Assumptions: a $200 course, US cards, monthly billing, no VAT or taxes, and plan fee plus processing added together as the pages describe them.

A month with 50 sales ($10,000 gross).

• Kajabi Basic: $179 fee plus 2.9% + $0.30 per sale (290 + 15 = 305): about $484, or 4.8%.
• Teachable Starter: $39 fee plus 7.5% (750) plus processing (305), if both apply as the page indicates: about $1,094, or 10.9%.
• Teachable Builder: $89 fee, 0% transaction fee and processing (305): about $394, or 3.9%.
• Your own Stripe account in the EEA (50 sales of 200 euros, standard card): 150 + 12.50 = 162.50 euros, or 1.6%, plus whatever the software costs.

A weak month with 5 sales of $100 ($500 gross).

• Kajabi Basic: 179 + 16 = about $195, or 39%.
• Teachable Starter: 39 + 37.50 + 16 = about $92.50, or 18.5%.

The useful reading is twofold. At high volume, flat fees dilute and an own platform becomes much cheaper than any model that keeps a percentage. At low volume the opposite holds: a fee of hundreds of dollars weighs more than a commission. One practical note: between Teachable Starter and Builder there is a $50 monthly gap, which the lower fee recovers once you sell about $667 a month (50 divided by 0.075).

What the math leaves out

Ownership of audience and data

On an own platform the student is your customer: you hold their email, their history and their consent to be contacted. On a marketplace, the student is usually the marketplace's customer first, and the platform sets the rules for data use and contact. That is a difference of model, not an accusation: read each marketplace's specific terms to know what you may and may not do with your student list.

Brand and price

A marketplace puts you next to your competitors, with its design and its presentation rules. An own platform gives you a domain, a visual identity and an experience consistent with your name. On price, an own platform lets you decide: country pricing, subscriptions, high-ticket programmes, offers on your own dates. On a marketplace, final pricing and promotions are subject to the platform's rules.

The cost that is not money: bringing traffic

Here the marketplace wins. An own platform hands you an empty shop: you bring the traffic, through your community, your content, ads or partnerships. If you start without an audience, that is the hard and expensive part, and no lower fee compensates for it.

Who each model suits

A marketplace is better if:

• You are starting from zero, with no mailing list or social following, and want to test whether your topic has demand.
• Your course is low priced and high volume, a generic topic people search for directly.
• You do not want to handle taxes, support or technology, and accept giving up margin and control in return.
• You use it as a shop window to attract students and then lead them to your main offer, within the platform's rules.

An own platform is better if:

• You already have an audience (practice, gym, studio, community, mailing list) and sell on personal reputation.
• Your offer is high ticket, with coaching, community or certification.
• You care that brand, domain and relationship are yours, and that your students' data does not depend on a third party.
• Your expected volume makes a flat fee weigh less than a revenue share.

A mixed model is legitimate: an entry course on a marketplace to attract students and your main programme on your own platform. Check what the marketplace's terms allow first.

How to decide in an afternoon

1. Estimate realistic monthly sales in a weak, a normal and a good scenario.
2. Work out the total cost of each option in all three, including processing, fees, taxes and the time traffic will take.
3. Ask yourself what happens if the platform changes its fees or terms: do you keep your students?
4. Start with the option that lets you learn most cheaply, and be ready to migrate.

LearnSuite, in one line

If you choose an own platform, LearnSuite is the one from Codelabs Studio: your domain, your logo and your emails, courses with per-language versions reviewed by a person, verifiable certificates, 1:1 sessions, pricing by geographic zone and payments through Stripe.