I built an alternative to Teachable after doing the math on platform fees (the numbers were embarrassing)
A few years ago I was helping a friend launch her first online course. She was excited, had great content, and chose Teachable because "everyone uses it."
Six months later she was making $800/month in course sales. She should have been thrilled. But she was barely breaking even.
The math that broke my brain:
- Teachable Pro plan: $159/month (needed for custom domain + zero transaction fees)
- Payment processing (Stripe): ~3%
- Her take on $800/month in revenue: $641
That meant she needed to make $3,180/month just to break even on the platform fee alone. That's before her time, marketing costs, or anything else.
And Kajabi? $149/month at minimum. Thinkific? $49/month but with serious limitations.
I started asking: why do platforms charge monthly fees when you might not sell anything that month?
The answer, of course, is that it's great business for them. But for new creators who are still figuring things out, it's a massive barrier.
So I built iLoquio.
The model is simple: $0/month. We take 5% when you make a sale. Nothing when you don't.
If you make $0, you pay $0. If you make $800, you pay $40. At $3,000/month you're paying $150 — less than a Teachable subscription, and you keep everything above that.
What's included:
- Sell online courses (unlimited)
- Live events with HD video built in
- 1:1 sessions / coaching calls
- Custom domain
- No student caps
The break-even formula I use when explaining this to creators:
If your monthly platform fee is P and your commission rate is C, you need to make P/C per month before a flat-fee model makes sense.
For Teachable Pro: $159 / 0.05 = $3,180/month before iLoquio becomes more expensive.
Most new creators aren't there yet. And even established ones appreciate not having the overhead during slow months.
I'm not claiming iLoquio is perfect. We're still early. But the model makes sense to me, and I think it's fairer to creators.
If you're building in the education/creator space, I'd genuinely love your feedback.
The break-even formula is the right thing to have led with, and I'd push it one step further. A percentage fee costs you roughly the same to serve at $800 a month as at $80,000, so it isn't priced against your cost, it's priced against what the creator will tolerate. That's why it never comes down on its own, on any platform.
The thing I'd model before you settle on 5% flat is churn at the top. Commission-only feels generous while everyone is small, and it wins you exactly the creators who have the least money. Then the ones who grow into your best accounts are also the ones with the strongest arithmetic reason to leave, right at the point where they're worth the most to you. Your own formula says it: past $3,180 a month, Teachable is the cheaper choice, and your best customers will run that sum.
Worth considering a rate that falls as they grow rather than a flat one, so the incentive to leave never arrives. I run a creator platform that went that way for this exact reason, 6% down to 3% down to 0% by plan, so I'm not a neutral observer here. But the shape of the curve is worth deciding deliberately now rather than discovering it in year two.
The strongest part here is the pricing argument. You’re not just building “another Teachable alternative.” You’re attacking the fixed-cost problem that hurts new creators before they even know whether their course will sell.
That framing is sharper than leading with features. Unlimited courses, live events, coaching, and custom domains matter, but the emotional hook is: creators should not pay platform rent before they have revenue. That makes iLoquio feel more founder-friendly and creator-aligned than the usual course-platform pitch.
One thing I’d watch is the name. iLoquio has a thoughtful education feel, but it may be a little hard to spell and recall for creators discovering it casually. If this becomes a premium creator-commerce platform, a polished name like Auryxa.com would carry the brand more cleanly than something users may need to hear twice.