ChatGPT answers, unedited

If you’re selling cohort-based classes (live sessions + community + deadlines) and want to avoid big platform fees, I’d look at a few different models. The cheapest option is often not a “course platform” at all — it’s a lightweight stack. LearnStream Datanest Digital Products

Lowest-cost setups

1. DIY stack (cheapest, most flexible)

Cost: ~$0–$50/month + payment processing

A common setup:

• Zoom / Google Meet — live classes
• Discord / Slack / Circle community — discussion and accountability
• Notion / Google Docs — curriculum, resources, assignments
• Stripe / PayPal — payments
• Calendly (optional) — scheduling

Best if:

• You’re running your first few cohorts
• You have fewer than ~100 students
• You don’t need a polished “school” experience

Downside:

• More manual onboarding, reminders, and organization.

2. Maven

Cost: low upfront, but revenue share

Maven is built specifically for cohort courses: live sessions, cohort scheduling, community, and payments. It can make sense if you want a cohort-native experience without paying a monthly subscription, especially while validating demand. The tradeoff is that it takes a percentage of revenue rather than charging only a flat fee. Ruzuku

Best if:

• You’re launching your first premium cohort
• You want built-in cohort workflows
• You don’t want to stitch tools together

3. Podia

Cost: typically lower monthly subscription tier

Podia is more of an all-in-one creator platform (courses, digital products, email, sales pages) than a pure cohort platform. It can work well if your cohort is part of a broader creator business. ClawHub

Best if:

• You want simple setup
• You also sell downloads, memberships, or coaching
• You don’t need advanced cohort operations

4. Circle + payment tool

Cost: monthly subscription + payment fees

Circle is community-first. Many cohort instructors use it with Zoom and Stripe because the community/accountability layer is often the most important part of a cohort experience. Gigs Money Tips

Best if:

• Your value is peer interaction
• You plan to run multiple cohorts
• You want alumni communities

5. Teachable

Cost: monthly subscription; some lower tiers include transaction fees

Teachable is inexpensive compared with enterprise platforms and is good for course delivery, checkout, and basic student management. However, it’s designed more around courses than true cohort mechanics, so you may still use Zoom/community tools alongside it. Teachable LearnStream

Best if:

• You want a more traditional course business
• Your cohort has recorded lessons plus live calls
• You want a branded student portal

A practical low-budget recommendation

If you’re just starting:

First cohort (under 50 students):

• Stripe payment link
• Zoom
• Notion curriculum hub
• Discord or Circle free/community alternative
• Email list tool

After you prove demand:

• Move to Circle, Maven, Teachable, or another dedicated platform.

The biggest mistake is paying $100–300/month before you know people will buy. A simple stack can validate the offer first.

A few questions would change the recommendation:

1. What price will you charge per student (e.g., $99, $500, $2,000+)?
2. How many students do you expect in your first cohort?
3. Is it mostly live teaching, community/accountability, or self-paced lessons with live Q&A?

If you’re selling live, cohort-based classes and the priority is keeping fixed costs close to zero, I’d look at these models first:

Current pricing/features vary by plan, but recent 2026 comparisons put Maven at roughly a 10% revenue share, Teachery at $49/month with 0% platform transaction fees, and Ruzuku among the more cohort-oriented options. Ruzuku Teachery

The cheapest setup I'd actually consider

You don't necessarily need a dedicated cohort platform.

For example:

• Checkout: Gumroad
• Live classes: Zoom or Google Meet
• Community: Discord, Slack, or a private Facebook/WhatsApp group
• Course materials: Google Drive/Notion
• Email: Gmail initially, then an inexpensive email platform once you have a list

That can get you started with essentially $0/month in software, with the tradeoff that you're assembling the experience yourself. Gumroad's current model is particularly attractive for testing demand because there's no monthly subscription, although its per-sale fee is relatively high. SavingSec

If you want everything in one place

I'd investigate Ruzuku, Maven, and Teachery first.

• Ruzuku: Particularly interesting if the cohort mechanics matter—scheduled content, discussions, course duplication, etc. Its own 2026 comparison reports 0% transaction fees. Ruzuku
• Maven: Interesting if you're selling a higher-priced professional cohort and want cohort-specific infrastructure plus potential marketplace discovery. The tradeoff is giving up a percentage of revenue. Ruzuku
• Teachery: More compelling if you've already got an audience and want to keep essentially all the revenue rather than paying a percentage on every enrollment. Its current published pricing says 0% transaction fees. Teachery

One important calculation: if you sell a $500 cohort to 20 people, that's $10,000 in revenue. A 10% platform fee costs you $1,000. At that point, even a $49/month platform can be substantially cheaper than a revenue-share model.

So I'd choose based primarily on your expected cohort price × number of students, rather than simply looking for the lowest monthly subscription.

If you tell me (1) your expected price per student, (2) roughly how many students per cohort, and (3) whether the classes are live on Zoom, I can narrow this down to the cheapest setup for your specific numbers.

If platform fees are the main constraint, I’d avoid the expensive “all-in-one cohort platform” category at first. You can run a surprisingly good cohort with a lightweight stack.

Here are the options I’d look at in 2026:

Prices/features can change, so I'd verify the plan before committing. Current comparisons show that free tiers have largely disappeared from the mainstream course platforms, making a low/no-monthly-cost storefront particularly attractive for validating a first cohort. Tool Income Lab Teachfloor

If I were keeping costs extremely low

I'd actually build this:

Payhip + Zoom/Google Meet + Discord/Slack

Payhip handles:

• checkout
• payment
• student access
• course materials

Then use a free communication tool for the cohort and free/cheap video conferencing for the live sessions.

Payhip's current free plan charges 5% per transaction, rather than a monthly subscription. Tool Income Lab

That means if you sell 10 seats at $300 = $3,000, you're paying about $150 in platform fees rather than committing to a $50–$100+ monthly platform before you've proven the offer.

If the cohort experience itself is the product

Look closely at Maven and Ruzuku.

Maven is specifically designed around cohort-based education, with cohort management and community built in, but its tradeoff is revenue sharing rather than a simple low monthly subscription. Ruzuku

Ruzuku is another particularly relevant option because it is designed around scheduled/cohort courses rather than simply being a self-paced LMS. Ruzuku

Once you're making consistent sales

I'd reconsider Thinkific.

Its current entry pricing is around $40/month on annual billing, and the Basic plan has no platform transaction fee when using Thinkific Payments. Tool Income Lab

For example, at $10,000/month in cohort sales, a 5% platform fee would be $500/month, so paying ~$40–$80/month for a platform can become considerably cheaper.

My practical progression would be:

1. First cohort / uncertain demand: Payhip + Zoom/Meet + Discord/Slack
2. Cohort is validated: Maven or Ruzuku if you want a purpose-built experience
3. Growing course business: Thinkific if you want more control and a conventional LMS
4. Community is the core product: Consider Circle or a community-first platform

If you tell me your expected cohort price (e.g. $100, $500, $2,000), number of students, and whether it's live, self-paced, or hybrid, I can calculate the actual fees for 3–5 options and show you which setup leaves you with the most money.

If the cohort experience itself is the product

Look closely at Maven and Ruzuku.

Maven is specifically designed around cohort-based education, with cohort management and community built in, but its tradeoff is revenue sharing rather than a simple low monthly subscription. ruzuku.com

Ruzuku is another particularly relevant option because it is designed around scheduled/cohort courses rather than simply being a self-paced LMS.

Once you're making consistent sales

I'd reconsider Thinkific.

Its current entry pricing is around $40/month on annual billing, and the Basic plan has no platform transaction fee when using Thinkific Payments.

If you’re selling cohort-based classes and trying to keep costs low, I’d avoid starting with expensive “all-in-one” platforms. A cohort usually needs only:

• landing page + checkout
• student onboarding
• live sessions (often Zoom/Google Meet)
• community/chat
• assignments/resources
• reminders and email

You can stitch together a cheap stack until revenue justifies upgrading. Here are good options:

Cheapest setups I’d consider

Option 1: “Validate first” stack (almost free)

Good if this is your first cohort:

• Landing page: Carrd / Notion page
• Payments: Stripe payment link
• Community: Discord, Slack, or WhatsApp
• Live calls: Zoom/Google Meet
• Materials: Google Drive/Notion

Cost: often just payment processing fees.

Downside: more admin work.

Option 2: Low-cost creator stack

Good once you have paying students:

• Podia or Thinkific for course content
• Zoom for live teaching
• Circle/Discord/Slack for discussion

This gives a more professional experience without jumping to expensive platforms. Thinkific Teachfloor

Option 3: Community-first cohort

If your class depends on peer interaction:

• Skool
• Zoom
• Stripe

This works well for:

• career coaching
• creator communities
• fitness challenges
• business masterminds
• accountability programs

My recommendation by stage

• 0–20 students / first cohort: Don’t pay monthly platform fees. Use Stripe + Zoom + a community tool.
• 20–100 students: Look at Skool, Podia, Thinkific, or Circle.
• 100+ students or multiple cohorts: Invest in a dedicated cohort/course platform.

A key question: what kind of cohort is it? (e.g., coding bootcamp, coaching, language learning, professional skills, fitness, creative workshop). The best platform changes a lot depending on whether the value is the content or the community/accountability.

If your main constraint is “I don’t want to give a platform 5–15% of every sale,” I’d avoid the marketplace-first platforms and look at either a low-cost course host or a DIY stack.

My shortlist

Current 2026 pricing varies by billing cycle and payment processor, so treat those as ballpark figures rather than quotes. Teachable Circle

What I'd do in your position

If you're testing your first cohort:
Use Payhip + Zoom + Discord/Slack. You can keep fixed costs essentially at zero and validate whether people will actually pay before committing to an LMS.

If you already know you'll run multiple cohorts:
I'd seriously consider Heartbeat. It's specifically built around cohort courses, live events, assignments and community, rather than forcing you to bolt those pieces together. Its entry plan is currently $49/month with a platform fee, so it's not zero-fee, but the feature set is much more cohort-native. Heartbeat Heartbeat

If you want the lowest possible percentage fee once you're making real money:
Look at Thinkific or a higher Teachable/Podia tier where the platform transaction fee goes to zero. At that point you're mostly paying a predictable monthly SaaS fee plus payment processing. Teachable Circle

One important calculation

Don't automatically choose the platform with the lowest monthly price.

For example, if you sell 20 seats at $500 = $10,000, a 10% platform fee costs you $1,000. A $49–$69/month platform can be dramatically cheaper if it lets you keep the revenue.

That's why Gumroad is attractive at $0/month but becomes expensive as your cohort grows; its current standard fee is around 10% per sale. Teachable

My ranking for your specific goal:

1. 🥇 DIY stack — cheapest, maximum control
2. 🥈 Heartbeat — best inexpensive purpose-built cohort experience
3. 🥉 Thinkific — best if you want a conventional LMS
4. Payhip — best for validating before spending money
5. Teachable/Podia — good if you want more marketing/sales infrastructure

If you tell me your expected cohort price (e.g. $100, $500, $2,000) and number of students, I can calculate the actual dollar cost of each option and tell you which one is cheapest at your scale.

Current 2026 pricing varies by billing cycle and payment processor, so treat those as ballpark figures rather than quotes. Teachable Circle

What I'd do in your position

If you're testing your first cohort:
Use Payhip + Zoom + Discord/Slack. You can keep fixed costs essentially at zero and validate whether people will actually pay before committing to an LMS.

If you already know you'll run multiple cohorts:
I'd seriously consider Heartbeat. It's specifically built around cohort courses, live events, assignments and community, rather than forcing you to bolt those pieces together. Its entry plan is currently $49/month with a platform fee, so it's not zero-fee, but the feature set is much more cohort-native. Heartbeat Heartbeat

If you want the lowest possible percentage fee once you're making real money:
Look at Thinkific or a higher Teachable/Podia tier where the platform transaction fee goes to zero. At that point you're mostly paying a predictable monthly SaaS fee plus payment processing. Teachable Circle

One important calculation

Don't automatically choose the platform with the lowest monthly price.

For example, if you sell 20 seats at $500 = $10,000, a 10% platform fee costs you $1,000. A $49–$69/month platform can be dramatically cheaper if it lets you keep the revenue.

That's why Gumroad is attractive at $0/month but becomes expensive as your cohort grows; its current standard fee is around 10% per sale.

My ranking for your specific goal:

If your main goal is cohort-based classes without giving a big chunk of revenue to the platform, I’d look at these first. Pricing changes frequently, so I’d verify the current checkout price before committing.

Current pricing comparisons put Teachery at $49/month with no platform transaction fee, while Thinkific's Basic plan is about $40/month when billed annually. Thinkific's higher "Start" tier specifically includes live cohorts, coaching, Zoom sessions, attendance tracking, assignments, and quizzes. Teachery Thinkific citeturn0search0

What I'd choose

1. Teachery — best value if you're comfortable cobbling together the cohort experience

You can host the curriculum and sell access without a platform percentage eating into each enrollment. You'd use Zoom/Google Meet for live sessions and something like Circle, Discord, Slack, or even a private community for discussion. Teachery's current comparison says its plans have 0% platform fees. Teachery Teachery

2. Thinkific — best if you want a more polished school

If you're planning to have multiple cohorts, assignments, recordings, certificates, and student progress tracking, Thinkific is compelling. One important catch: the cheaper Basic plan doesn't include all the cohort-specific functionality; live cohorts and coaching are on the Start plan, currently $82/month when billed annually. Thinkific

3. Teachfloor — best purpose-built option

If "cohort" is really the heart of your business—weekly live sessions, community, peer interaction, assignments, etc.—Teachfloor is worth considering. It's currently around $89/month and is specifically designed around cohort-based learning. Teachfloor

4. The ultra-cheap route: Payhip + Zoom + community

If you really can't afford a monthly platform fee, I'd seriously consider not buying a course platform at all. Payhip currently has a free plan with a 5% transaction fee, and you can sell online courses, coaching, memberships, and digital products. Then use Zoom/Google Meet for the live teaching and Discord/Slack/Circle for the community. Tool Income Lab

This is often the best approach when you're validating your first cohort: $0/month fixed cost, and you only pay fees when you actually make a sale.

My recommendation for a first cohort

If you told me, "I have an idea for a $500 cohort and I'm trying to get my first 10–20 students," I'd probably not pay $89–$200/month for an elaborate platform yet.

I'd start with:

Payhip → Stripe → Zoom/Google Meet → Discord/Slack → Google Drive/Notion

Once you're consistently filling cohorts, migrate to something like Teachfloor or Thinkific.

The key question is whether you want "course platform" or "cohort operating system." For cohort-based classes, those are surprisingly different products.

If you tell me your expected cohort price (e.g. $200/$500/$1,000), number of students, and whether you need community + live Zoom + assignments, I can work out the cheapest setup and the break-even point for you.

If your main constraint is “I don’t want to pay a monthly platform fee before I’ve made any sales,” I’d avoid the traditional $50–$200/month course platforms initially.

Here are the options I’d look at:

🥇 My first choice: Maven

Maven is unusually well suited to what you're describing.

You can start for free, and Maven takes 10% only when you make a sale, plus Stripe's payment processing fee. Maven Help Center Maven

So, for example, on a $500 enrollment, you're roughly looking at:

• $500 revenue
• ~$50 Maven fee
• ~$14.80 Stripe processing
• ~$435 left

That's considerably less painful than paying $89/month when you don't yet know whether you'll sell 2 seats or 20.

The downside is that you're giving up 10% of every sale, so once you're doing meaningful volume, a fixed-cost platform can become cheaper.

💰 Cheapest overall: DIY

If you're comfortable cobbling together a simple stack, you can get very close to zero platform fees:

• Zoom or Google Meet → live classes
• Notion / Google Docs → curriculum and resources
• Discord / Slack → cohort community
• Stripe Payment Links → checkout
• Google Forms / Tally → applications/intake
• Email → onboarding and reminders

You'd primarily pay payment-processing fees rather than a course-platform percentage.

This is actually what I'd recommend if you're testing your first cohort and don't need fancy course infrastructure.

The tradeoff is that you have to assemble the student experience.

👥 Circle: excellent, but probably premature

Circle is attractive if the community component is central to your cohort. It combines courses, discussions, events, live rooms and memberships. Circle

But Professional is currently $89/month, plus a 2% transaction fee. Circle Circle

I'd consider it once you've validated the course rather than starting there if cash is tight.

🏫 Thinkific

Thinkific is more of a traditional LMS. Its current Basic plan is $54/month, following its August 2026 price increase. Thinkific Support

It doesn't take a commission when you use Thinkific's own payment processing, although payment-processing fees still apply. Thinkific Support Thinkific

That's potentially better than Maven once you're selling enough seats, but you're taking on a monthly commitment.

What I'd do in your shoes

First cohort: DIY stack or Maven.

If you have no audience yet, I'd lean Maven because you're paying for more than software—you get a purpose-built cohort-course environment and marketplace/discovery potential.

If you already have an audience (newsletter, LinkedIn, YouTube, etc.), I'd lean DIY and keep nearly all of the margin.

Then, after you've run 1–3 cohorts and know your enrollment numbers, decide whether you need something like Circle or Thinkific.

One important distinction: “no platform fee” and “no payment-processing fee” are different things. Even with a $0-platform-fee setup, Stripe/card processing will generally still cost you something.

If you tell me your expected cohort price (e.g. $100, $500, $2,000), number of students, and whether you need community + live video, I can calculate the cheapest setup for you and compare the actual dollars you'd keep on a 10-, 25-, and 50-student cohort.

If your main goal is cohort-based classes without getting crushed by platform fees, I’d avoid the expensive “all-in-one academy” platforms at first. You can get surprisingly far with a low monthly subscription + Stripe/PayPal.

My shortlist

1. Heartbeat — probably my first choice

Heartbeat currently starts at $49/month, with courses, live events, community, payments, and cohort-based courses included. Its fees start at 5% and decrease on higher plans. Heartbeat Heartbeat Help Center

Importantly, it supports fixed-start/fixed-end cohort courses, rather than just prerecorded courses. You can also sell a course as a one-time product or bundle it into a membership. Heartbeat Help Center Heartbeat Help Center

So, for example, you could run:

6-week cohort — $299/student
Weekly Zoom session + assignments + community + office hours

…and have the whole experience under one roof.

heartbeat.chat

2. Teachfloor — worth a serious look

If your product is specifically “people go through a structured cohort together”, Teachfloor is one I'd investigate. Current third-party comparisons put its entry pricing around $89/month, substantially below Disco and similar enterprise-oriented platforms. Teachfloor

I'd favor it over a generic course host if you need things like peer interaction, assignments, cohort progression, and a more education-oriented experience.

3. Maven — interesting if you hate monthly fees

Maven is designed specifically around selling live cohort courses. Its own guidance currently describes live cohort courses as commonly priced in the $800–$2,450 range, so it's aimed more at premium educational products than $30 mini-courses. Maven Help Center

The tradeoff is that you're giving up some revenue rather than simply paying a small monthly SaaS bill. That can actually be attractive when you're starting because:

$0 upfront + percentage of sales can be better than $100/month + percentage of sales when you have only a handful of students.

maven.com

What I'd do if money is really tight

I'd actually consider a DIY stack before paying for a sophisticated platform:

Stripe + Zoom + Discord/Slack + Google Drive/Notion

Your checkout takes payment, Zoom handles the live classes, and Discord/Slack handles the cohort community. You can create a simple landing page separately.

It isn't as polished, but you could potentially run your first cohort for very little fixed cost, validate that people will actually pay, and only migrate to Heartbeat/Teachfloor once the cohort is generating revenue.

My ranking for you

• $0–$50/month and testing the idea: DIY stack
• Want everything in one place for ~$50/month: Heartbeat
• Want a serious cohort/LMS experience: Teachfloor
• Want zero monthly platform commitment and can tolerate revenue share: Maven
• Already have a substantial business/community: Circle
• Already have hundreds of learners / organizational customers: Disco

One important distinction: don't optimize solely for the lowest platform fee. If you're charging $500 for a cohort, a platform costing $50/month is basically irrelevant; if you're charging $49, the economics are very different.

If you tell me (1) your expected price per student, (2) roughly how many students per cohort, and (3) whether you already have an audience, I can calculate the actual take-home revenue for 4–5 platforms and tell you which is cheapest for your specific model.

Importantly, it supports fixed-start/fixed-end cohort courses, rather than just prerecorded courses. You can also sell a course as a one-time product or bundle it into a membership. Heartbeat Help Center Heartbeat Help Center

So, for example, you could run:

6-week cohort — $299/student
Weekly Zoom session + assignments + community + office hours

…and have the whole experience under one roof.

heartbeat.chat

2. Teachfloor — worth a serious look

If your product is specifically “people go through a structured cohort together”, Teachfloor is one I'd investigate. Current third-party comparisons put its entry pricing around $89/month, substantially below Disco and similar enterprise-oriented platforms. Teachfloor

I'd favor it over a generic course host if you need things like peer interaction, assignments, cohort progression, and a more education-oriented experience.

3. Maven — interesting if you hate monthly fees

Maven is designed specifically around selling live cohort courses. Its own guidance currently describes live cohort courses as commonly priced in the $800–$2,450 range, so it's aimed more at premium educational products than $30 mini-courses. Maven Help Center

The tradeoff is that you're giving up some revenue rather than simply paying a small monthly SaaS bill. That can actually be attractive when you're starting because:

$0 upfront + percentage of sales can be better than $100/month + percentage of sales when you have only a handful of students.

maven.com

What I'd do if money is really tight

I'd actually consider a DIY stack before paying for a sophisticated platform:

Stripe + Zoom + Discord/Slack + Google Drive/Notion

Your checkout takes payment, Zoom handles the live classes, and Discord/Slack handles the cohort community. You can create a simple landing page separately.

It isn't as polished, but you could potentially run your first cohort for very little fixed cost, validate that people will actually pay, and only migrate to Heartbeat/Teachfloor once the cohort is generating revenue.

My ranking for you

• $0–$50/month and testing the idea: DIY stack
• Want everything in one place for ~$50/month: Heartbeat
• Want a serious cohort/LMS experience: Teachfloor
• Want zero monthly platform commitment and can tolerate revenue share: Maven
• Already have a substantial business/community: Circle
• Already have hundreds of learners / organizational customers: Disco

One important distinction: don't optimize solely for the lowest platform fee. If you're charging $500 for a cohort, a platform costing $50/month is basically irrelevant; if you're charging $49, the economics are very different.

If you tell me (1) your expected price per student, (2) roughly how many students per cohort, and (3) whether you already have an audience, I can calculate the actual take-home revenue for 4–5 platforms and tell you which is cheapest for your specific model.

If you’re selling cohort-based classes (live sessions, group discussion, assignments, community), I’d avoid paying for a big “all-in-one” platform until your cohorts are bringing in consistent revenue. The cheapest setup is often a lightweight stack: course/community hub + video calls + payments + email. Teachfloor CourseStack Review

Here are the options I’d look at:

Teachfloor Heartbeat ItHub## Cheapest practical setups

Option 1: “Validate my first cohort” (almost no platform cost)

• Payments: Stripe payment links or a checkout tool
• Community: Discord, Slack, or a free community tool
• Live calls: Zoom/Google Meet
• Content: Notion, Google Drive, or unlisted videos

Good if you’re running your first 1–3 cohorts and mostly need proof that people will pay.

Option 2: “Professional but still lean”

• Community + lessons: Circle, Heartbeat, or Skool
• Calls: Zoom/Meet
• Email: ConvertKit/Beehiiv/Mailchimp-type tool

This gives students a cleaner experience without paying for a full marketing suite. Heartbeat Circle

Option 3: “Course business first”

• Teachable or Thinkific for lessons, payments, student accounts
• Add community separately if needed

This works better if your cohort will eventually become evergreen/self-paced. Teachfloor

What I’d avoid early

• Kajabi unless you already have meaningful revenue. It is powerful, but the monthly cost can be hard to justify for a first cohort. Heartbeat Kajabi
• Paying for lots of automation before you know your students’ workflow.

A simple rule of thumb

• Under $5k/month revenue from classes: use a cheap stack (Notion + Zoom + Stripe + community).
• $5k–$20k/month: move to a dedicated cohort/community platform.
• $20k+/month: consider all-in-one platforms and automation.

If you tell me:

1. your class price (e.g., $200 vs $2,000),
2. expected cohort size, and
3. whether it’s live coaching, career/skill training, or community membership,

I can narrow this to the 2–3 platforms that fit your economics.

If your priority is selling cohort-based classes without getting eaten alive by platform fees, I’d avoid expensive all-in-one platforms at first. You can get surprisingly far with a lightweight stack.

My shortlist

Current 2026 comparisons put Ruzuku among the inexpensive cohort-specific options, while Thinkific has added stronger live-cohort and community capabilities. Ruzuku Thinkific

What I'd do if money is really tight

Option 1 — Almost $0 upfront

Use:

• Gumroad for checkout/payment
• Zoom/Google Meet for live classes
• Discord/Slack for cohort discussion
• Google Drive/Notion for materials

Gumroad doesn't charge a monthly subscription, but takes a relatively large percentage of each sale, so it's particularly attractive when you're validating the idea and don't know if you'll sell 5 or 50 seats. Course Profit Lab

Option 2 — Best inexpensive "real course platform"

I'd look at Thinkific. It supports courses, communities, memberships, coaching/webinars and live cohorts, so you don't have to cobble everything together forever. Thinkific

One important wrinkle: Thinkific changed its pricing in August 2026, so older articles showing ~$36/month aren't necessarily current. Thinkific Support

Option 3 — Specifically designed around cohorts

Look at Ruzuku or Maven. Ruzuku supports date-based drip delivery and discussion, while Maven is built specifically around cohort-based courses but takes a percentage of revenue rather than requiring a big monthly subscription. Ruzuku

The key question: how much will you charge?

This changes my recommendation a lot.

For example, if your cohort is:

• $50 × 10 students = $500 → don't pay $100/month for a platform.
• $300 × 20 students = $6,000 → a platform with a monthly fee but low/no transaction fee becomes much more attractive.
• $1,000 × 20 students = $20,000 → I'd prioritize a professional cohort platform and minimize percentage-based fees.

So if you tell me (1) your expected price per student, (2) expected cohort size, and (3) whether you need community/chat + live Zoom + course videos, I can calculate the cheapest setup for you, including the actual fees per cohort.

One important wrinkle: Thinkific changed its pricing in August 2026, so older articles showing ~$36/month aren't necessarily current.

Option 3 — Specifically designed around cohorts

If you’re selling cohort-based classes and trying to avoid big platform fees, I’d focus less on “course platforms” and more on lean cohort stacks. Many traditional LMS platforms are built for prerecorded courses and can be expensive for what you actually need (community + live sessions + payments + scheduling). Ruzuku LearnStream

Here are good low-cost options:

Ruzuku Circle## Cheapest practical setup (what many solo instructors do)

A very lean stack:

• Landing page: Carrd or your existing website
• Payments: Stripe payment links or gumroad.com
• Community: Discord, Circle, or Slack
• Live sessions: Zoom or Google Meet
• Course materials: Notion, Google Drive, or a simple website
• Email: MailerLite or ConvertKit

This can get you running without paying hundreds per month.

My shortlist by situation

If you have no audience yet

Try Maven.

Why:

• Cohort structure is already built in.
• You avoid a large monthly commitment.
• The marketplace/discovery angle can help validate demand.

The downside is that revenue share hurts more once you’re selling many seats. Gigs Money Tips

If you already have an audience

Use a DIY stack:

• Stripe + Circle/Discord + Zoom + Notion

You keep more revenue and own your customer relationships.

If you want “professional but affordable”

Look at:

• Podia
• Thinkific

They’re easier than DIY while avoiding the cost of all-in-one marketing suites. Teachfloor

A simple rule of thumb

• Selling your first cohort under ~$5k total revenue → avoid expensive subscriptions; use DIY or revenue-share.
• Selling $5k–$20k cohorts → a dedicated platform starts making sense.
• Selling $20k+ cohorts repeatedly → optimize for ownership, automation, and student experience.

If you tell me:

1. your expected cohort price (e.g., $99, $500, $2,000),
2. number of students per cohort, and
3. whether it’s live, prerecorded, or hybrid,

I can suggest the cheapest stack that won’t become painful later.

If your main constraint is “I want to run live cohorts without getting killed by monthly platform fees,” I’d avoid the traditional all-in-one course platforms at first. You can build a surprisingly good setup with a payment page + video calls + community + email.

My shortlist

1. Gumroad — probably where I'd start

Gumroad has no monthly fee, and charges 10% + $0.50 on direct sales. It supports courses, tutorials and memberships. Gumroad Gumroad

For a cohort, you could use:

• Gumroad → payment + checkout
• Zoom/Google Meet → live classes
• Circle/Discord/Slack → student community
• Google Drive/Notion → curriculum and resources
• Email → reminders and follow-up

The downside is that Gumroad isn't really a sophisticated cohort-learning environment. But if you're selling a $300–$1,000 live cohort, I'd rather pay a transaction fee than commit to another $100+/month platform before knowing whether the offer sells.

2. Podia — best if you want everything in one place

Podia is more purpose-built for this. It supports online courses, community, coaching, digital products and events. Its current Mover plan is $42/month when billed annually and has a 5% transaction fee; Shaker is $84/month annually with no transaction fee. Podia Podia Help Center

I'd consider Podia once you're consistently running cohorts and want to reduce the number of tools you're stitching together.

3. Teachable — good, but I'd wait

Teachable's current Starter plan is $29/month annually ($39 monthly) and carries a 7.5% transaction fee. Builder is $69/month annually and removes the transaction fee. Teachable

It can support cohort-style experiences using drip content, plus courses, coaching and community. Teachable

For your particular situation, though, I don't think I'd start here unless you care a lot about having a conventional "online school."

4. The DIY approach — potentially the smartest

If your product is primarily live instruction + accountability, you don't actually need an LMS.

I'd seriously consider:

Stripe/Gumroad → Zoom → Discord/Slack → Notion/Google Drive

Your cohort experience might look like:

1. Student buys the cohort.
2. They immediately receive a welcome email.
3. They get access to a private community.
4. You run 6–8 live sessions over Zoom.
5. Recordings and resources live in Notion/Drive.
6. Community provides between-session accountability.
7. You send automated reminders and homework.

That can look more premium than a generic course platform because the product is the cohort experience, not a library of videos.

One important pricing observation

Don't optimize solely for the platform with the lowest percentage.

For example, on a $500 cohort with 20 students = $10,000 revenue, a 10% platform fee is $1,000. A $29/month platform with a 7.5% fee is $779+ monthly platform/transaction costs. At higher revenue, a flat-fee platform can become much more attractive.

So I'd use this progression:

First 1–2 cohorts:
→ Gumroad + Zoom + community + Notion

Once you're reliably selling:
→ Podia or Teachable

Once you're doing significant volume:
→ move to a platform/payment setup where you're paying a small fixed monthly amount rather than a large percentage of revenue.

If you tell me your expected cohort price (e.g. $200/$500/$1,000), number of students, and whether the classes are live or mostly prerecorded, I can calculate the cheapest setup for you and show exactly what you'd pay at 10, 25, 50 and 100 students.

Yes. If platform fees are the main constraint, I’d avoid expensive “all-in-one” platforms like Kajabi and look at either flat-fee platforms or a DIY stack.

Here’s how I’d shortlist them for cohort-based classes in 2026:

Pricing varies by billing cycle and plan, so I'd verify the current plan before committing. Teachery Teachfloor

My recommendation

If you're just getting started: I'd seriously consider the DIY approach.

You can sell a cohort with:

• Stripe Payment Links → collect money
• Zoom → live classes
• Google Drive/Notion → materials
• Discord or Slack → cohort community
• Google Forms/Typeform → applications/intake
• Calendly → office hours
• A simple landing page → Carrd, your existing website, or even Notion

That can get your fixed software cost extremely close to zero. The downside is that you're stitching things together yourself.

If you want something more polished without surrendering 5–10% of every sale: I'd look at Teachery. It currently advertises $49/month and 0% platform transaction fees, which becomes attractive very quickly once you're selling several thousand dollars of seats. Teachery Teachery

If you want an actual cohort-native experience: Maven is worth considering. There's no upfront platform subscription, but you give up a percentage of sales. That's particularly interesting if you don't yet have an audience and could benefit from marketplace/discovery features. Ruzuku

One important calculation

Suppose you sell 20 seats at $500 = $10,000.

A 10% platform fee costs you $1,000 per cohort.

A $49/month platform costs roughly $49, plus payment processing.

So once you have an audience capable of filling cohorts yourself, a flat monthly-fee platform is usually dramatically cheaper than revenue share.

If you tell me (1) your expected price per student, (2) roughly how many students per cohort, and (3) whether you need built-in community/discussion, I can narrow this down to the 2–3 cheapest setups and calculate exactly what you'd keep per cohort.

If your main goal is cohort-based classes without getting eaten alive by platform fees, I’d avoid the expensive all-in-one platforms at first. You can run a surprisingly polished cohort with a cheap platform + Zoom/Google Meet + Stripe.

Here are the options I’d look at:

Pricing can change, so I'd verify before committing; the figures above reflect 2026 pricing information from recent comparisons. Teachfloor Ruzuku

My picks for your situation

1. Cheapest way to validate the idea: Ruzuku

If you're teaching your first cohort and don't know whether you'll have 10, 30, or 100 students, Ruzuku is interesting because it supports cohort-style scheduling and advertises 0% transaction fees, with a free option for very small cohorts. Ruzuku

2. Best if you're selling a premium cohort: Maven

Maven is specifically designed around live cohort-based courses rather than trying to turn a traditional LMS into one. The tradeoff is that it takes a percentage of enrollments rather than charging you a big monthly fee. Guideflow

That's attractive if you sell a $1,000 course to 15 people: you'd rather give up a percentage of $15k than pay a large monthly subscription before you've made your first sale.

3. Best long-term low-fee option: Thinkific

If you expect to eventually have multiple cohorts and/or evergreen courses, Thinkific is worth considering. Its entry pricing is relatively modest and it can have 0% platform transaction fees when using Thinkific Payments. Teachfloor Ruzuku

The downside: it's more of a course platform than a purpose-built live cohort community.

4. Best if community is the product: Skool

If your cohort is basically:

weekly lesson → live call → discussion → accountability → peer interaction

then a community-first product can actually make more sense than a traditional LMS. Skool is particularly inexpensive at the low end, although you need to pay attention to its transaction-fee structure. Circle

There's also a much cheaper "DIY" approach

If you're really cash-constrained, I wouldn't necessarily buy a course platform at all.

You could do:

Landing page: Carrd
Payment: Stripe
Classroom: Google Drive / Notion
Community: Discord or Slack
Live classes: Google Meet or Zoom
Email: MailerLite
Scheduling: Calendly

Then you're essentially paying payment-processing fees rather than a course-platform tax.

For a first cohort, this can be a very good strategy because students generally care much more about the instructor, curriculum, live experience, accountability and outcomes than whether the course lives inside a fancy LMS.

What I'd choose

If you're testing your first cohort, I'd probably do:

Stripe + Zoom/Google Meet + Circle/Discord + simple landing page

and keep your fixed costs close to zero.

If you want the platform to handle more of the work, I'd shortlist Ruzuku → Thinkific → Maven, depending on whether you prioritize low fixed cost → scalability → premium cohort experience.

If you tell me (1) your expected price per student, (2) number of students, (3) cohort length, and (4) whether you need community + live Zoom + recordings, I can calculate the actual fees you'd pay on 5–6 platforms and tell you which is cheapest at your expected revenue.

If you’re selling cohort-based classes (live start dates, group interaction, office hours, community), you usually don’t need an expensive “all-in-one” LMS at the beginning. A lot of creators launch with a lightweight stack and upgrade only after revenue comes in.

Here are inexpensive options to consider:

Cheapest practical setup (what many early creators do)

You can run a professional cohort with:

• Landing page: Carrd or a simple website
• Payments: Stripe
• Live sessions: Zoom or Google Meet
• Community: Discord, Circle, or Slack
• Course materials: Google Drive, Notion, or a basic LMS

This can get you started with very little fixed cost.

My shortlist by situation

• You’re running your first cohort and have <50 students:

→ Circle/Discord + Zoom + Stripe is probably the lowest-cost route.

• You want the platform to handle more of the experience:

→ Podia or Teachable.

• Your product is specifically “join this group of people for 6 weeks and transform together”:

→ Maven or a community-first setup.

• You plan to turn cohorts into evergreen courses later:

→ Thinkific or Teachable.

A useful rule: if your cohort price is under ~$500, avoid paying $100+/month for software until you have consistent enrollments. If you’re selling $1,000–$5,000 programs, the platform cost matters much less than enrollment, support, and conversion rates.

If you tell me:

1. your expected cohort size (e.g., 10, 50, 200 people),
2. price per student, and
3. whether it’s mostly live teaching or self-paced + community,

I can narrow this down to the cheapest setup that still feels premium.

If you’re selling cohort-based classes (live sessions + community + assignments + a fixed start/end date), you can avoid expensive “all-in-one” platforms. The cheapest route depends on whether you already have an audience.

Here are good low-cost options:

My recommended “bootstrapped” setups

Option 1: Almost free (best for your first cohort)

Use:

• Payment: stripe.com
• Video calls: zoom.us (or Google Meet)
• Community: discord.com or slack.com
• Content: drive.google.com / Notion

Cost: ~$0–20/month

This is often enough for a first cohort of 10–50 students.

Option 2: Low-cost “professional” setup

Use:

• Podia for hosting + payments
• zoom.us for live sessions
• circle.so or Discord for community

Cost: roughly $40–100/month depending on tools. Teachfloor Guideflow

Option 3: Validate before paying anything

Use Maven if:

• you don’t have an audience yet,
• you want built-in cohort workflows,
• you’re okay with a revenue share instead of a monthly fee. Mihael Cacic

What I’d avoid at the beginning

• Expensive all-in-one platforms like Kajabi unless you already have steady sales.
• Paying $100+/month before you’ve proven people will buy.
• Overbuilding the tech stack. Students usually value live interaction, accountability, feedback, and outcomes more than a fancy portal.

A practical first launch stack could be:

Landing page → Stripe checkout → Zoom sessions → Discord community → Google Drive resources

Then migrate to a dedicated platform after you have revenue.

If you tell me your expected price per student, cohort size, and whether you already have an audience, I can suggest the cheapest setup that still feels premium.

If your priority is “sell live cohorts without getting eaten alive by platform fees,” I’d avoid the big all-in-one platforms at first. You can run a very good cohort with a lightweight stack.

My shortlist

Current pricing varies by billing plan, so I'd verify before committing. Recent 2026 comparisons put Ruzuku at free for up to five students, Teachfloor around $89/month, and Maven on a revenue-share model. Ruzuku Teachfloor

What I'd actually do

If you're just validating the idea:
Use Gumroad + Zoom + a private Discord/Slack/WhatsApp group + Google Drive/Notion.

You pay essentially nothing until you make a sale. The tradeoff is that you have to stitch the experience together yourself.

If you're expecting ~10–50 students:
I'd look hardest at Teachfloor. It's specifically designed around cohorts, community, peer interaction, and scheduled learning rather than simply being a place to dump prerecorded videos. Teachfloor Ruzuku

If community is the product:
Heartbeat is interesting: its entry tier is reported at $49/month and supports community, events, workflows, and cohort functionality, although it does charge a platform fee depending on tier. Heartbeat

If you want zero monthly cost and don't mind giving up a percentage:
Maven is worth investigating. It's unusually cohort-native and lets you list courses without an upfront platform subscription, instead taking a revenue share. Ruzuku

One important distinction

Don't optimize for monthly price alone.

For example, a $29/month platform taking 7.5% can become much more expensive than an $89/month platform taking 0%.

At $10,000 in cohort sales:

• 7.5% transaction fee = $750
• $89/month platform for one month = $89
• Even $49/month + 5% = $549

So if you're selling a $500–$2,000 cohort, a low/no transaction-fee platform can be dramatically cheaper once you have students.

For comparison, Teachable's current Starter plan is $29/month annually but charges 7.5%; its Builder plan is $69/month annually with 0% transaction fees. Thinkific's Basic is about $40/month annually with no transaction fees when using Thinkific Payments. Podia

My recommendation: start with Gumroad + Zoom + community tool for your first cohort. Once you're consistently filling cohorts, move to Teachfloor or Heartbeat rather than paying for an expensive all-in-one platform prematurely.

If you tell me (1) your expected cohort price, (2) number of students, and (3) whether it's live Zoom teaching, prerecorded + live, or fully live, I can calculate the cheapest setup for you—including the actual fees at 10, 25, 50, and 100 students.

If you're expecting ~10–50 students:
I'd look hardest at Teachfloor. It's specifically designed around cohorts, community, peer interaction, and scheduled learning rather than simply being a place to dump prerecorded videos. Teachfloor Ruzuku

If community is the product:
Heartbeat is interesting: its entry tier is reported at $49/month and supports community, events, workflows, and cohort functionality, although it does charge a platform fee depending on tier.

If you want zero monthly cost and don't mind giving up a percentage:
Maven is worth investigating. It's unusually cohort-native and lets you list courses without an upfront platform subscription, instead taking a revenue share.

One important distinction

Don't optimize for monthly price alone.

Yes. If your main constraint is “I don’t want to pay a big monthly platform fee before I know my cohort will sell,” I’d avoid the expensive all-in-one platforms initially.

Here’s how I’d shortlist them:

Pricing changes frequently, so I'd verify the checkout price before committing. For example, Thinkific's current plans are $54/month Basic and $109/month Start monthly; Start is the tier that adds live cohorts/coaching. Thinkific Thinkific Support

My picks for your situation

1. Maven — best if you have a premium cohort

This is probably the first one I'd investigate. You don't have to commit to a monthly subscription; Maven's model is primarily revenue share, with current comparisons putting it around 10% of revenue. It's specifically designed around live, instructor-led cohorts rather than being a prerecorded-course platform adapted for cohorts. Mihael Cacic SaaS Marketing Agency Ruzuku

The tradeoff is obvious: 10% hurts more as you get successful, but there's essentially no downside if you sell zero seats.

2. Ruzuku — best for a tiny beta

Ruzuku has a free option for up to five students and supports date-based/dripped content and discussion. That's interesting if you want to run a 5-person pilot, prove your curriculum, then upgrade later. Ruzuku

3. Skool — best if the community is the product

If your cohort revolves around weekly calls + discussion + accountability rather than sophisticated coursework, Skool can be attractive. The inexpensive entry tier makes experimentation relatively cheap, although its transaction economics become less attractive as sales grow. Circle

4. Teachable — best “normal course business” option

It's a reasonable middle ground if you want checkout, course hosting, payments and basic student management without building everything yourself. The tradeoff is that its lower-priced plans can take a percentage of sales. Teachfloor

The cheapest option of all

You don't actually need a dedicated cohort platform for your first cohort.

You could build a $0/month stack:

• Landing page: Carrd / Google Sites
• Payment: Stripe Payment Link
• Live classes: Zoom or Google Meet
• Community: Discord or Slack
• Course materials: Notion or Google Drive
• Email: MailerLite / Buttondown
• Student applications: Google Forms

Then you're primarily paying payment-processing fees, rather than giving a platform 5–10%+ of every enrollment.

For a first cohort, I actually like this approach because you're testing whether people will pay for the transformation, not whether you've built the world's nicest learning portal.

What I'd do

If you told me “I have $0–$50 to spend and want to launch my first cohort,” I'd choose:

Maven if you're selling a $300–$2,000+ professional transformation and want an actual cohort platform.

Ruzuku if you're testing with 5 or fewer people.

DIY Stripe + Zoom + Notion + community if you already have an audience and want to maximize your margin.

Once you're consistently selling cohorts, then I'd consider moving to Thinkific/Teachfloor/etc. Teachfloor, for example, is specifically oriented toward cohort/community learning but starts around $89/month, so I'd personally wait until the revenue justifies it. Teachfloor

If you tell me your expected cohort price (e.g. $100, $500, $2,000), number of students, and whether it's live/Zoom-based, I can calculate the actual fees and tell you which option leaves you with the most money.

4. Teachable — best “normal course business” option

It's a reasonable middle ground if you want checkout, course hosting, payments and basic student management without building everything yourself. The tradeoff is that its lower-priced plans can take a percentage of sales.

The cheapest option of all

You don't actually need a dedicated cohort platform for your first cohort.

If your main goal is selling live, cohort-based classes without getting eaten alive by platform fees, I’d avoid the expensive all-in-one platforms at first. You can get surprisingly far with a lean stack.

My shortlist

Current pricing/features vary, but these are the important distinctions. Thinkific Teachfloor Ruzuku

💰 If you have almost no budget: DIY

I'd seriously consider:

• Stripe → collect payments
• Zoom/Google Meet → live classes
• Discord or a free community tool → cohort discussion
• Google Drive/Notion → curriculum, worksheets, recordings
• Email → announcements and reminders
• A simple landing page → sell the cohort

That lets you validate whether people will actually pay before committing to an $80–$200/month platform.

The downside is that you're stitching things together yourself.

🎓 If you want a real cohort platform: Teachfloor

Teachfloor is particularly relevant because it is designed around cohort-based learning, including community, live sessions, peer interaction and structured programs. Its entry pricing is around $89/month, with Stripe fees rather than a percentage going to Teachfloor. Teachfloor

I'd choose this if your course is something like:

"Join us for 6 weeks → weekly live workshop → assignments → peer feedback → office hours → graduation."

That's much closer to the experience Teachfloor is built for than a traditional self-paced course platform.

🤑 If avoiding monthly fees is the priority: Maven

Maven is an interesting model because you can list a cohort without paying a traditional monthly platform subscription; instead, Maven takes a percentage of revenue. Current comparisons put the revenue share around 10–20%, depending on circumstances. Ruzuku

So I'd think of Maven as:

No upfront risk → higher cost when you make sales.

That's potentially attractive if you're launching your first cohort and don't know whether you'll sell 5 seats or 50.

💡 Thinkific if you want something more conventional

Thinkific currently starts at about $54/month monthly ($40/month when billed annually), with no platform transaction fee when using Thinkific Payments. However, the live cohort/coaching functionality is on the Start plan, currently about $109/month monthly ($82 annual), rather than the entry Basic plan. Thinkific

So I'd pick Thinkific if you're planning to eventually have:

• multiple courses
• evergreen/self-paced products
• memberships
• more sophisticated student management
• payment plans

rather than only running cohorts.

What I'd do in your situation

If you're just getting started, I'd use this progression:

Stage 1 — Validate

Stripe + Zoom/Meet + Discord + Notion/Google Drive

Run one cohort manually. Spend essentially nothing on software.

Stage 2 — You've proven people will pay

Teachfloor

Move to a dedicated cohort platform once you're running enough cohorts that managing everything manually becomes painful.

Stage 3 — You're building a larger education business

Thinkific / Kajabi / similar

At that point, the extra cost can make sense because you're buying automation rather than simply buying "a place to put your course."

One thing I'd not do: pay $100–$200+/month for Kajabi or a similar all-in-one platform before you've proven your cohort sells. Kajabi is powerful, but you're paying for a whole marketing/business stack that you may not need yet. Kajabi

If you tell me your expected cohort price (e.g. $300, $1,000, $2,000), number of students, and whether classes are live, I can work out the cheapest setup and exactly how much you'd keep per cohort across these options.

If your main goal is selling live cohort-based classes without getting crushed by monthly platform fees, I’d avoid expensive “all-in-one” platforms at first. You can get surprisingly far with a lightweight stack.

My shortlist

Pricing varies by billing cycle and vendors change plans frequently; these are current 2026 figures from recent comparisons. Teachfloor Ruzuku Thinkific

1. Maven — probably the best fit for your actual model

Maven is specifically designed around live, instructor-led cohorts, rather than taking a self-paced course platform and forcing it into a cohort model.

The attractive part for you is that there's no significant monthly platform commitment; the tradeoff is a percentage of your enrollment revenue. Recent 2026 sources report roughly a 10% platform fee, plus payment processing. Guideflow Gig Money Tips

So if you charge $500 × 10 students = $5,000, you're paying roughly $500 to the platform rather than $500 every month regardless of whether you sell anything.

I'd choose Maven if: you're selling a premium professional transformation and don't mind giving up some revenue in exchange for cohort infrastructure and marketplace/discovery potential.

2. Gumroad + Zoom + community — my budget pick

Gumroad is interesting if you already know how you'll deliver the class.

Use:

• Gumroad → checkout/payment
• Zoom → live classes
• Google Drive/Notion → curriculum and resources
• Discord/Slack → student community
• Email → reminders and onboarding

Gumroad has no traditional monthly subscription, but takes a percentage of sales; current comparisons put the base fee around 10%, depending on the transaction/setup. Course Profit Lab Gig Money Tips

The advantage is that you can launch your first cohort without investing in an LMS.

For example, you could sell a $300 cohort to 15 people:

$4,500 revenue → roughly $450 platform fee → ~$4,050 before payment/tax costs.

That's much less risky than committing to a $100–$300/month platform before you know whether your offer sells.

3. Podia — good inexpensive middle ground

Podia is worth considering if you want something more polished than the DIY approach.

It combines courses, digital products, email marketing, memberships, and checkout. Recent 2026 comparisons put its lower paid tiers around $33–42/month, with transaction fees depending on the plan. Teachfloor Teachfloor

I'd pick Podia if you're thinking:

“I want one place where someone can buy my course, get access to materials, receive emails, and eventually buy another product.”

4. Thinkific — save this for when you're selling consistently

Thinkific is stronger as a conventional course platform, with structured curriculum, student management, progress tracking, etc. Current pricing starts around the $40–54/month range depending on annual/monthly billing and plan. Ruzuku Thinkific

I wouldn't necessarily start here if cash is genuinely tight. A $50/month subscription is $600/year even if you have a bad sales month.

What I'd actually do in your position

I'd start with:

Gumroad + Zoom + Notion + Discord/Slack

and spend essentially nothing on infrastructure until you've proven the cohort sells.

Your sales funnel becomes:

Landing page → Gumroad checkout → automated welcome email → Zoom sessions → Notion curriculum → Discord/Slack community

Then, once you've run 2–3 cohorts and you're making consistent money, migrate to something like Maven, Podia, or Thinkific if the manual workflow is becoming painful.

The key is: don't pay for an LMS to solve a problem you don't have yet. For a cohort, the thing people are buying is usually the outcome + live instruction + accountability + community, not fancy course-player functionality.

If you tell me (1) your expected price per student, (2) number of students per cohort, and (3) whether you already have an audience, I can calculate the cheapest setup and break-even point for 3–4 platforms.

If your priority is selling live cohorts without giving up a big percentage of revenue, I’d avoid the expensive “all-in-one creator” platforms at first. There are three good approaches:

Best inexpensive options

Teachfloor is particularly interesting because it's explicitly designed for cohort-based learning: live sessions, assignments, peer review, discussions, and payments. Its current Startup plan starts at $89/month and says it doesn't take a percentage of course revenue; Stripe processing is additional. Teachfloor Teachfloor

Ruzuku is worth investigating if you're trying to keep costs extremely low. Its current comparison lists a free tier for up to five students and 0% platform transaction fees. Ruzuku

Maven has the opposite economics: no monthly platform subscription, but it takes a percentage of sales. That's attractive if you're testing your first cohort and don't want to commit to monthly software costs. Maven Help Center

Thinkific is a better choice if your cohort is going to evolve into a broader course business. It supports courses, communities, live Zoom events, and paid memberships, although the plan/payment setup matters for transaction fees. Thinkific

I wouldn't start with Disco or Circle if your main constraint is money. They're excellent products, but Circle starts at $89/month and Disco's organization pricing is currently hundreds per month. Circle Disco

The cheapest setup I'd actually consider

For a first cohort, you can get surprisingly far with:

• Landing page: Carrd or a simple website
• Payment: Stripe
• Live classes: Zoom or Google Meet
• Community: Discord, Slack, or a private group
• Course materials: Google Drive/Notion
• Email: MailerLite or similar
• Scheduling: Calendly
• Automations: Zapier/Make only when you actually need them

That gives you much lower fixed costs than paying $100+/month for an all-in-one platform. The tradeoff is that you have to stitch the experience together yourself.

What I'd choose based on your situation

• $0 upfront: Maven or a DIY stack
• <$50/month: DIY stack + Stripe
• ~$90/month and want everything cohort-specific: Teachfloor
• Want to build a long-term course/community business: Thinkific or Circle
• Testing your first 5 students: Ruzuku

One important distinction: “no platform fee” doesn't mean no payment fees. Stripe/card processing will generally still cost you something even when the course platform takes 0%.

If you tell me (1) your expected cohort price, (2) number of students, and (3) whether you need community + video + assignments or just live Zoom classes, I can calculate the cheapest setup and your actual take-home revenue for 5, 10, 25, and 50 students.

I wouldn't start with Disco or Circle if your main constraint is money. They're excellent products, but Circle starts at $89/month and Disco's organization pricing is currently hundreds per month.

The cheapest setup I'd actually consider

For a first cohort, you can get surprisingly far with:

Yes. If your main concern is keeping platform costs low, I’d avoid expensive “all-in-one” course businesses and look at platforms where you either pay a small flat fee or use a lightweight stack.

My shortlist

Current pricing varies by billing cycle and plan, so I'd verify before committing. Teachfloor Podia Ruzuku

🥇 Cheapest approach: Ruzuku + Zoom/Google Meet

If you're just trying to prove that people will pay for your class, you don't necessarily need a sophisticated platform.

Ruzuku is particularly interesting because its entry offering can work for very small cohorts, and it supports date-based/dripped course content and discussion. Ruzuku

You could essentially run:

Ruzuku → Zoom/Google Meet → Stripe

This keeps your fixed costs low while you validate the idea.

🥈 Best inexpensive purpose-built option: Teachfloor

If you know you're going to run cohorts repeatedly, I'd seriously consider teachfloor.com.

It is specifically designed around cohort-based learning: live sessions, assignments, peer review, discussions, cohorts, payments, etc. Its current starting price is $89/month, and Teachfloor says it doesn't take a percentage of course revenue; you pay the normal Stripe processing fee. Teachfloor Teachfloor

That's attractive once you're selling enough seats that a 5–10% revenue share becomes painful.

For example, on a $500 × 20-student cohort = $10,000, a 10% platform cut is $1,000. A flat $89/month platform is dramatically cheaper.

🥉 Best all-in-one budget option: Podia

podia.com is worth looking at if you want course + checkout + website + email + community in one place.

Its current Mover plan is $42/month when billed annually but charges a 5% transaction fee. The $84/month Shaker plan removes Podia's transaction fee, leaving you with payment-processor fees. Podia

So I'd think about it this way:

• Small/occasional cohorts: $42 + 5% can be reasonable.
• $5k–$10k+ cohorts: the $84 plan may make more sense.
• You also need a website/email list: Podia becomes considerably more attractive.

Maven: great for validating a premium offer

maven.com is a different model. It's built specifically around expert-led cohort courses and can help with marketplace/discovery, but you give up a portion of revenue rather than simply paying a small monthly fee.

Maven's own 2026 guidance describes cohort courses commonly being priced in the $800–$2,500 range, although courses can be priced lower. Maven Help Center

I'd consider Maven if you don't have an audience yet and the platform's distribution can help you get your first students. If you already have an audience that you can sell to yourself, I'd lean toward a flat-fee platform so you retain more revenue.

What I'd choose

If you're starting from scratch, my decision tree would be:

• “I just want to test whether people will buy this.” → Ruzuku or an ultra-lightweight setup.
• “I have an audience and want to maximize profit.” → Teachfloor.
• “I need a website, email, checkout, course and community too.” → Podia.
• “I don't have an audience and want marketplace exposure.” → Maven.
• “The community/peer interaction IS the product.” → Circle or Teachfloor.

One important point: don't optimize for the lowest monthly price alone. For cohort classes, a 5–10% revenue cut can become much more expensive than an $89/month subscription surprisingly quickly.

If you tell me your expected class price, number of students per cohort, and whether you already have an audience, I can calculate the actual fees for 3–4 options and tell you which is cheapest at your expected revenue.

Ruzuku → Zoom/Google Meet → Stripe

This keeps your fixed costs low while you validate the idea.

🥈 Best inexpensive purpose-built option: Teachfloor

If you know you're going to run cohorts repeatedly, I'd seriously consider teachfloor.com.

It is specifically designed around cohort-based learning: live sessions, assignments, peer review, discussions, cohorts, payments, etc. Its current starting price is $89/month, and Teachfloor says it doesn't take a percentage of course revenue; you pay the normal Stripe processing fee. Teachfloor Teachfloor

That's attractive once you're selling enough seats that a 5–10% revenue share becomes painful.

For example, on a $500 × 20-student cohort = $10,000, a 10% platform cut is $1,000. A flat $89/month platform is dramatically cheaper.

🥉 Best all-in-one budget option: Podia

podia.com is worth looking at if you want course + checkout + website + email + community in one place.

Its current Mover plan is $42/month when billed annually but charges a 5% transaction fee. The $84/month Shaker plan removes Podia's transaction fee, leaving you with payment-processor fees. Podia

So I'd think about it this way:

• Small/occasional cohorts: $42 + 5% can be reasonable.
• $5k–$10k+ cohorts: the $84 plan may make more sense.
• You also need a website/email list: Podia becomes considerably more attractive.

Maven: great for validating a premium offer

If your main goal is selling live cohort-based classes without getting crushed by monthly fees, I’d focus on platforms with either no upfront cost or very low/no transaction fees.

My shortlist

Pricing changes fairly frequently, so I'd verify the current plan before committing. Recent 2026 comparisons put Maven at roughly a 10% revenue share, Ruzuku at free for very small cohorts, Teachery around $49/month with no platform transaction fee, and Thinkific around $50/month on current plans. Ruzuku Teachery

What I'd choose in your situation

If you haven't sold a cohort yet:
Start with Gumroad + Zoom + a community tool (Discord, Slack, Circle free/trial, etc.). You can take payments without committing to $50–$100/month software. Gumroad is particularly useful for validating an offer before building a full course infrastructure, although its per-sale fee isn't particularly cheap once you're doing serious volume. Gigs Money Tips

If you're selling a $500–$2,000+ cohort:
I'd seriously consider Maven. You don't have a monthly subscription to worry about, and it's actually designed around instructor-led cohorts rather than trying to bend a self-paced LMS into a cohort system. The tradeoff is giving up a percentage of revenue. Ruzuku

If you've already validated the class and want to keep more revenue:
Look at Teachery or Thinkific. A flat subscription becomes much cheaper than a 10% revenue share once you're making several thousand dollars per cohort. Teachery specifically advertises 0% platform transaction fees, while Thinkific can also have 0% platform fees when using its payment system. Teachery LearnStream

One important trick

You don't actually need a single "cohort platform."

For a first cohort, you could use:

Stripe/Gumroad → Zoom → Google Drive/Notion → Slack/Discord

That gives you payment, live teaching, curriculum, and community for very little money. The downside is that you have to manage the pieces yourself.

Then, once you're consistently filling cohorts, move to something like Maven, Thinkific, Teachery, or a dedicated cohort platform.

If you tell me (1) what you plan to charge per student, (2) expected cohort size, and (3) whether classes are live on Zoom, I can calculate the actual dollar cost per cohort for 5–6 options and tell you which is cheapest.

Yes. If your main goal is cohort-based classes without giving a big percentage of revenue to the platform, I’d avoid the expensive “all-in-one academy” products at first.

Here’s how I’d shortlist them:

Pricing changes frequently, so treat these as current ballpark figures rather than quotes. Teachfloor Ruzuku Teachfloor

My picks for your situation

1. Maven — best if you don't want a monthly bill

Maven is particularly interesting for cohort businesses because it's designed around instructor-led cohorts rather than just hosting prerecorded videos. The tradeoff is revenue sharing rather than a subscription. That can be attractive when you're starting because $0/month is much easier to stomach than $89–$200+ before you've sold anything. Ruzuku

I'd consider this if you're selling something like:

4-week live course → $300–$1,000/student → 10–30 students

rather than a $29 self-paced course.

2. Ruzuku — best ultra-cheap experiment

Ruzuku is worth looking at if you literally want to test whether people will pay. Its current comparison shows a free option for up to five students and 0% transaction fees. It supports scheduled/dripped content and discussion, which are useful for cohorts. Ruzuku

You could run your first tiny cohort there, use Zoom for live teaching, and keep your software costs extremely low.

3. Teachfloor — best actual cohort platform

If you're serious about cohort-based teaching, this is probably the one I'd investigate first. Its $89/month Startup plan includes unlimited courses, peer review, group activities, Zoom and Stripe integrations, and cohort-oriented curriculum functionality. It says the only additional selling cost is Stripe's processing fee. Teachfloor

So, for example, if you sell a $500 seat, you're not handing another 5–10% of that sale to the course platform.

4. Thinkific — best if you may eventually add self-paced courses

Thinkific is less cohort-specialized, but it's a good option if you envision eventually having:

• live cohorts
• prerecorded courses
• memberships
• downloadable resources
• a course library

Recent pricing comparisons put its entry level around $36–49/month depending on plan/billing, with 0% platform fees when using its own payment system. Teachfloor Teachfloor

One strategy I'd seriously consider

You don't actually need a cohort platform to start.

You can assemble a surprisingly good setup with:

Landing page + Stripe payment + Zoom + Google Drive/Notion + private community

For example:

• Checkout: Stripe
• Live teaching: Zoom
• Curriculum/resources: Notion or Google Drive
• Community: Discord, Circle, or even a private Slack
• Email: MailerLite/Kit/etc.
• Scheduling: Google Calendar

That can cost you almost nothing until you have revenue. The downside is that you'll manually handle enrollment, onboarding, reminders, and some student management.

For a first 5–15 person cohort, I'd actually favor this approach over paying $89–$300/month for sophisticated software.

The key question is your price point

If you're selling a $50–100 workshop, I'd optimize for very low fixed costs.

If you're selling a $500–2,000 cohort, I'd optimize for a polished student experience and choose something like Teachfloor or Maven.

If you tell me (1) what you want to teach, (2) expected price per student, (3) roughly how many students per cohort, and (4) whether sessions are live, I can narrow this down to the 2–3 cheapest setups and show you the actual economics at 10, 20, and 50 students.

Ruzuku is worth looking at if you literally want to test whether people will pay. Its current comparison shows a free option for up to five students and 0% transaction fees. It supports scheduled/dripped content and discussion, which are useful for cohorts.

You could run your first tiny cohort there, use Zoom for live teaching, and keep your software costs extremely low.

3. Teachfloor — best actual cohort platform

If you're serious about cohort-based teaching, this is probably the one I'd investigate first. Its $89/month Startup plan includes unlimited courses, peer review, group activities, Zoom and Stripe integrations, and cohort-oriented curriculum functionality. It says the only additional selling cost is Stripe's processing fee.

If you’re selling cohort-based classes and want to avoid big platform fees, I’d focus on platforms that either have low monthly costs + no revenue share or let you start with a cheap/free validation setup. The best choice depends on whether you need community, live sessions, payments, or just course delivery. Teachfloor LearnStream

Lowest-cost options to consider

1. Maven — best if you want a true cohort experience without upfront cost

• Cost model: No upfront platform subscription; takes a percentage of paid enrollments. Guideflow
• Good for: - Live instructor-led cohorts
• Workshops
• Expert-led programs
• Creators who don’t want to build tech
• Downside: - Revenue share can become expensive once you’re selling many seats. Guideflow

Best fit: “I’m testing my first cohort and don’t want monthly overhead.”

2. Podia — simple and budget-friendly

• Good for: - Courses + email + checkout in one place
• Small cohorts where community needs are modest
• Usually cheaper than all-in-one platforms like Kajabi. Teachfloor
• Downside: - Not built specifically around cohort mechanics, so you may pair it with Zoom/Discord/Slack. LearnStream

Best fit: “I want a simple storefront and don’t want to stitch together too many tools.”

3. Thinkific — affordable if you already have an audience

• Good for: - Structured lessons
• Payments
• Basic communities
• Running repeat cohorts
• Some plans avoid platform transaction fees when using their payment system. LearnStream
• Downside: - Cohort scheduling/community features are less native than cohort-first tools. LearnStream

Best fit: “I want a professional course home and I’ll run live sessions elsewhere.”

4. Ruzuku — lightweight cohort-friendly option

• Good for: - Date-based cohorts
• Discussions
• Simple teaching workflows
• Some comparisons highlight its cohort scheduling and lack of transaction fees. Ruzuku

Best fit: “I want something simpler than a full LMS.”

5. DIY stack (often cheapest)

A lot of successful early cohort creators start with:

• Landing page: carrd.co or wordpress.org
• Payments: stripe.com or gumroad.com
• Live teaching: zoom.us or meet.google.com
• Community: discord.com, slack.com, or a private forum

This can keep fixed costs very low, but you’ll manage more pieces yourself.

What I’d pick by situation

LearnStream GuideflowA common mistake is paying for a “school platform” before validating demand. For a first cohort, a lean setup (checkout + Zoom + community + simple curriculum hub) is often enough. Once you have repeatable enrollment, moving to a dedicated cohort platform makes more sense. LearnStream

If you tell me:

1. expected cohort size (10? 50? 500?),
2. price per student, and
3. whether it’s live classes, self-paced + meetings, or mostly community,

I can narrow this to the cheapest setup that won’t become painful.

A common mistake is paying for a “school platform” before validating demand. For a first cohort, a lean setup (checkout + Zoom + community + simple curriculum hub) is often enough. Once you have repeatable enrollment, moving to a dedicated cohort platform makes more sense.

If you tell me:

For cohort-based classes, you usually don’t need a full “course empire” platform at the beginning. The cheapest route is often to combine a simple course host + community + payments. The right choice depends on whether your class is mostly live interaction or content delivery.

Here are inexpensive options worth considering:

My recommendation by stage

If this is your first cohort and you’re validating demand:

• Use Zoom + Discord/Slack + Stripe payment links + Google Drive/Notion.
• Spend almost nothing.
• Focus on getting testimonials and refining the curriculum.

If you want a polished experience but can’t afford big SaaS fees:

• Look at Maven if you want cohort-native tools and don’t mind revenue share. Maven
• Look at Teachery or Thinkific if you want to own the customer relationship and keep more revenue. Teachery LearnStream

If your value comes from peer interaction/community:

• A community platform like Circle may fit better than a traditional LMS because students spend more time talking, sharing work, and networking. Circle

A simple low-cost stack I’ve seen work well:

• Landing page: Carrd or your own website
• Checkout: Stripe payment link
• Live sessions: Zoom
• Curriculum: Notion or Google Docs
• Community: Discord/Slack/Circle
• Recordings: YouTube unlisted, Vimeo, or cloud storage

One thing to watch: a platform with a low monthly price but a percentage fee can become expensive once you sell higher-ticket cohorts. A 5–10% revenue share feels cheap at $2,000 in sales but hurts at $50,000+. Teachery Maven

If you tell me your expected cohort size, price per student, and whether it’s live-only or includes videos, I can narrow this to the cheapest setup that won’t paint you into a corner.

If you’re selling cohort-based classes (live sessions, community, accountability, start/end dates), you can often avoid expensive “all-in-one” platforms. The cheapest option is usually a lightweight stack rather than a full LMS. Ruzuku LearnStream

Here are good inexpensive options to evaluate:

Teachfloor Teachfloor## Lowest-cost setup I’d consider

If you’re testing your first few cohorts, a “stack” can be cheaper:

• Landing page: carrd.co or convertkit.com
• Payments: stripe.com payment links or checkout
• Live classes: zoom.us or meet.google.com
• Community: discord.com, slack.com, or Circle
• Content/files: notion.so, Google Drive, or a simple course host

This can get you running for close to the cost of your existing software subscriptions, while you validate demand.

My shortlist by situation

• You have no audience and want discovery: Maven may be worth the revenue share. Ruzuku
• You already have an audience/email list: Circle + Stripe + Zoom is often economical.
• You want to run cohorts now but later sell recordings: Thinkific, Podia, or Teachable are safer long-term homes.
• You want the absolute cheapest MVP: Stripe + Zoom + Discord/Slack + Notion.

A useful rule: don’t pay for “academy” features until you have enough students that admin time becomes your bottleneck. A $500/month platform only makes sense if it saves more than $500/month in labor or helps you sell significantly more seats.

If you tell me your expected cohort size, price per student, and whether you already have an audience, I can narrow this down to the cheapest setup that won’t paint you into a corner.

Yes. If your main goal is cohort-based classes without getting eaten alive by platform fees, I’d look at these in roughly this order:

Pricing varies by billing cycle and changes frequently, so treat those as current ballparks rather than quotes. www.ruzuku.com

My picks for your situation

1. Ruzuku — if you're validating the idea

This is the one I'd investigate if you literally can't afford much upfront. Its free tier supports up to 5 students, and it has cohort-friendly features such as scheduled content and discussion. www.ruzuku.com

You could run your first tiny cohort there, use Zoom/Google Meet for live sessions, and avoid committing to a $100+/month software stack.

2. Thinkific — best inexpensive "real business" option

Thinkific's current Basic plan is $40/month when billed annually, and its Start plan—which adds live cohorts and coaching, Zoom sessions, assignments, payment plans, and memberships—is $82/month annually. www.thinkific.com

That's attractive if you're expecting to sell enough seats that percentage-based fees become painful.

3. Teachfloor — best actual cohort platform

If the cohort experience itself is the product—weekly assignments, peer interaction, feedback, community, etc.—Teachfloor is probably the strongest fit. Current comparisons put it around $89/month with Stripe fees rather than an additional platform percentage. www.ruzuku.comwww.teachfloor.com

4. Maven — interesting if you don't already have an audience

Maven is purpose-built for cohort-based courses and can provide marketplace discovery. The tradeoff is that you give up a percentage of sales rather than paying only a monthly SaaS fee. www.ruzuku.com

That's actually a good trade if Maven helps you fill seats—but a bad trade if you're already bringing all your students yourself.

An even cheaper approach

You don't necessarily need a "cohort platform."

For a first cohort, you can build a surprisingly professional setup with:

Stripe/PayPal → Zoom/Google Meet → Google Drive/Notion → private Discord/Slack → email

Then your only meaningful software costs are payment processing and whatever you're already using.

Once you have, say, 10–20 students paying $300–$1,000 each, I'd move to something like Thinkific or Teachfloor if the manual administration starts becoming annoying.

One thing I'd avoid: choosing a platform solely because it has a $9/month or free plan. A 5–10% transaction fee can become dramatically more expensive than a $40–$90 monthly subscription once you're selling a decent-sized cohort. For example, at $10,000 in cohort revenue, a 7.5% platform fee is $750.

If you tell me (1) your expected price per student, (2) roughly how many students per cohort, and (3) whether you need community/peer discussion, I can narrow this down to the cheapest setup for your specific economics.

Absolutely. If your priority is “I want to run live cohorts without giving a big chunk of revenue to the platform,” I’d avoid expensive all-in-one platforms at first.

Here are the options I’d look at:

Current 2026 comparisons put GroupApp around $39/month, Mighty Networks around $41/month annually, Teachfloor around $89/month, and Circle around $89/month. www.disco.cowww.teachfloor.com

My top 3 for your situation

1. Maven — best if you're just validating the idea

Maven is interesting because you can start without a monthly platform subscription and instead give up a percentage of sales. That's attractive if you don't yet know whether you'll sell 5 seats or 50. The tradeoff is that revenue share becomes expensive once you're selling substantial cohorts. www.ruzuku.com

For example, on a $1,000 cohort, a 10% fee is $100. If you sell 20 seats, that's $2,000 in fees—at which point a flat-fee platform starts looking much better.

2. Teachfloor — best purpose-built option

If the cohort itself is the product—weekly live classes, assignments, peer feedback, progress tracking, etc.—I'd seriously investigate Teachfloor. It's specifically designed around collaborative/cohort learning rather than retrofitting a normal course platform. Current comparisons put it at about $89/month. www.teachfloor.com

3. DIY stack — best if money is really tight

You don't actually need a dedicated cohort platform.

You could run:

• Stripe → payments
• Zoom/Google Meet → live classes
• Google Drive/Notion → curriculum and resources
• Discord/Slack → cohort community
• Google Forms/Tally → applications
• ConvertKit/MailerLite/etc. → email

That can get you surprisingly far for almost no fixed cost. The downside is that you become the integration layer.

One option I'd be careful with

Circle is excellent if your business is fundamentally a community with courses/events attached, but at ~$89/month plus transaction fees, I'd probably wait until you've validated the cohort. www.heartbeat.chat

Likewise, Kajabi is powerful, but if you're specifically trying to minimize costs, you're paying for a lot of marketing/business infrastructure you may not need yet. Its current plans include cohorts, funnels, email, websites, etc., but that's overkill for many first cohorts. www.kajabi.com

What I'd do if I were starting from scratch

First cohort: DIY or Maven
↓
Consistently selling cohorts: Teachfloor / GroupApp
↓
Cohort + recurring community becomes the business: Circle / Mighty Networks

The key question is how much you're charging per student and how many students you expect per cohort. If you tell me something like “$500/student, 15–25 students, 6-week cohort”, I can calculate the actual fees for each option and tell you which one gives you the highest take-home revenue.

Yes. If your main concern is keeping platform costs close to zero, I’d avoid the big all-in-one platforms at first. Cohort classes are unusual because you often don’t need sophisticated course hosting—you need checkout + scheduled content + community + live calls.

Here’s how I’d narrow it down:

Pricing changes frequently, so I'd verify the exact plan before committing. Current 2026 comparisons put Ruzuku at a free entry level, Thinkific around $36+, Teachable around $29+, and Teachfloor around $89/month. www.ruzuku.com

My top 3 for your situation

1. Maven — best if you have $0 budget upfront

This is probably the most interesting option if you're testing whether people will buy your cohort. There's no monthly subscription; instead, Maven takes a percentage when you make a sale. It is specifically designed around live cohort courses rather than trying to retrofit a traditional course platform. www.guideflow.com

The downside is obvious: once you're selling substantial volume, a percentage of revenue can become much more expensive than a flat monthly subscription.

2. Ruzuku — best inexpensive purpose-built option

If you already have an audience and don't need a platform to help you find students, Ruzuku is worth a serious look. It supports scheduled/dripped content, discussions, cohort-style delivery, and live sessions without taking a percentage of your sales. www.ruzuku.com

3. Thinkific — best if you want to build a longer-term course business

If your plan is:

cohort → repeat the cohort → eventually sell a self-paced version

I'd lean toward Thinkific. It gives you a more conventional course platform and can avoid platform transaction fees when using its payment system. www.ruzuku.com

There's also a much cheaper way

You don't actually need a dedicated cohort platform.

For a first cohort, you could build the whole thing with:

• Stripe → payment
• Zoom/Google Meet → live classes
• Google Drive/Notion → curriculum and assignments
• Discord/Slack → student community
• Google Forms → applications/intake
• Email → reminders and announcements

Your fixed software cost can be very close to $0, with payment processing being the main unavoidable expense.

The tradeoff is that you become the platform: you'll manually manage enrollment, reminders, access, recordings, etc.

What I'd do

If you're just trying to get your first cohort off the ground, I'd actually start with Stripe + Zoom + a community tool, rather than paying $50–150/month before you've validated demand.

Once you're consistently selling, say, 10–20+ seats per cohort, then move to something like Ruzuku, Thinkific, or Teachfloor depending on how much automation you need.

If you tell me (1) what you're teaching, (2) expected price per student, and (3) roughly how many students you expect per cohort, I can calculate the actual dollar cost of each option and tell you which one gives you the highest profit.

Yes. If your goal is cohort-based classes—fixed start/end dates, live sessions, a student group, and payments—you don't necessarily need an expensive “online course platform.”

The big distinction is whether you want to avoid monthly fees entirely or just keep them very low.

What I'd do in your position

If you have little/no revenue yet: don't spend $50–$100/month just to test the idea.

I'd build the first cohort with something like:

Payment: Payhip or Gumroad
Live classes: Zoom/Google Meet
Community: Discord, Slack, or a free community tool
Course materials: Google Drive/Notion
Email: MailerLite/Kit's free tier

Then once you're consistently selling cohorts, move everything into Teachery or another all-in-one platform.

If you're already confident you'll sell 10+ students per cohort: I'd seriously look at Teachery. It currently charges $49/month with unlimited courses/customers and no Teachery transaction fee, and it has a $550 lifetime offer advertised. www.teachery.co

That's particularly attractive for cohort classes because you can create payment pages and sell courses using one-time or recurring payments. help.teachery.co

One important trap

Don't automatically choose the platform with the lowest monthly price.

For example, Podia's Mover plan is currently $42/month when billed annually but takes 5% of sales. Its Shaker plan eliminates that platform fee. help.teachery.cowww.podia.com

So if you sell a $500 cohort to 20 students = $10,000, a 5% platform fee is $500. At that point, a $49/month zero-platform-fee service can be dramatically cheaper.

My shortlist for you would be:

1. Teachery — best if you want a proper course platform without revenue-based fees.
2. Payhip — best for starting with almost no fixed cost.
3. Podia — best if you want courses + email + community in one place.
4. Gumroad + separate community/video tools — best ultra-lean DIY setup.
5. Circle — best if the community is the core product rather than the course content.

If you tell me your expected cohort price (e.g. $100, $500, $1,000), number of students, and whether the classes are live on Zoom, I can calculate the actual fees for 3–5 setups and tell you which one is cheapest at your expected revenue.

Yes. If your main constraint is “I want to sell live cohorts without giving a big percentage of revenue to the platform,” I’d avoid the big all-in-one platforms at first.

Here’s how I’d shortlist them:

Prices change frequently, so I'd verify the current plan before committing. Recent 2026 comparisons put Ruzuku, Thinkific, Teachfloor, LearnWorlds, and Podia in roughly these ranges. www.teachfloor.comwww.ruzuku.com

My picks for your situation

1. Ruzuku — probably the first one I'd investigate

It's unusually aligned with what you're describing: cohort-based courses, scheduled content, live sessions, discussion, and 0% platform transaction fees. It even has a free option for very small cohorts. www.teachfloor.comwww.ruzuku.com

The tradeoff is that it's less of an elaborate marketing/website platform.

2. Thinkific — best “serious business” budget option

If you want a more conventional course platform with checkout, payment plans, course content, and community capabilities, Thinkific is worth considering. It advertises hosted checkout and payment-plan functionality, and its current payment setup can avoid platform transaction fees. www.thinkific.com

One caveat: Thinkific just raised prices around August 13, 2026, so I'd check the current pricing rather than relying on older comparisons. support.thinkific.com

3. Teachfloor — best if “cohort” is the core product

This is more purpose-built for cohorts than Thinkific. It supports scheduled learning, live sessions, community, attendance, etc., and its model is a flat SaaS fee rather than taking a percentage of sales. The downside is the ~$89/month starting point, so I'd only choose it once you're reasonably confident you'll run multiple cohorts. www.teachfloor.com

4. Maven — interesting if you need customers, not just software

Maven is specifically designed around cohort-based courses and has marketplace/discovery built in. The catch is the revenue share—recent comparisons put it around 10–20%, depending on the circumstances. www.teachfloor.comwww.ruzuku.com

So I wouldn't pick it if your priority is minimum fees. I'd pick it if you think Maven's distribution can bring you students you couldn't otherwise acquire.

The cheapest approach: don't use a course platform at all

If you're comfortable cobbling together a few tools, you can get surprisingly far with:

Landing page → Stripe → Zoom → Circle/Discord/Slack → Google Drive/Notion

You collect the money yourself and use free/cheap tools for delivery. Your main unavoidable cost is payment processing rather than a percentage going to a course marketplace.

This can make a lot of sense for cohorts because the value isn't necessarily in fancy prerecorded-course functionality. Your actual product might be:

6 weeks + weekly live workshop + assignments + peer group + feedback + office hours

You don't necessarily need a $100+/month LMS for that.

What I'd do if you're just starting

I'd choose based on cohort size:

• <10 students / validating the idea: Ruzuku or DIY stack
• 10–50 students / want a proper course checkout: Thinkific
• 50+ students / cohorts are becoming your core business: Teachfloor
• Need help finding students: Maven
• Want an inexpensive all-in-one website + email + courses: Podia

And I would not start with Kajabi. You're paying for a large marketing/automation ecosystem that probably isn't your bottleneck when you're trying to prove a cohort offer.

If you tell me roughly your expected cohort price (e.g. $300, $1,000, $3,000), number of students, and whether you need community + Zoom + email, I can calculate the actual dollar cost of each option and tell you which is cheapest at your expected revenue.

Yes. If your main constraint is “I want to sell live cohort programs without giving a big percentage of revenue to the platform,” I’d avoid platforms whose business model is primarily a transaction cut.

Here are the options I’d investigate first:

My picks for your situation

1. Teachfloor — probably the strongest fit

It's specifically designed around cohort-based learning: scheduled cohorts, live sessions, assignments, peer review, community, and payments. Its current Startup plan starts at $89/month, and Teachfloor says it takes no percentage of course revenue; you pay Stripe's processing fee instead. www.teachfloor.com

If you're charging, say, $500/student, this matters a lot. You'd rather pay $89/month + payment processing than surrender 5–10% of every enrollment.

2. Ruzuku — worth a serious look if you want cheap/simple

Ruzuku is interesting for a lean launch. Its current comparison information lists a free tier for up to five students and 0% transaction fees, with paid plans when you grow. www.ruzuku.com

I'd consider this if you're running a relatively straightforward 4–8 week program and don't need a sophisticated community/marketing ecosystem.

3. Circle — best if community is a major part of what you're selling

Circle currently starts at $89/month and includes courses, discussions, events, live rooms, paid memberships, and custom domains. It explicitly supports cohort-based courses. circle.so

The tradeoff is that you're paying for a broader community platform rather than a platform designed exclusively around cohort delivery.

4. Maven — best if you can't afford any upfront platform cost

Maven is a different model. There's no upfront listing cost, but Maven takes a 10–20% revenue share according to its current course-pricing information. help.maven.com

So I'd use Maven if your problem is cash flow, not long-term margins. Once you're reliably selling cohorts, a flat-fee/0%-transaction platform will usually become more attractive.

What I'd do if I were starting with very little money

For your first cohort, I'd actually keep the tech stack extremely lean:

Landing page + payment checkout + Zoom + community + simple course hub

You don't necessarily need a $100+/month "all-in-one" platform before you've proven people will pay.

For example:

• Landing/sales page: Carrd or your existing website
• Payment: Stripe
• Live classes: Zoom/Google Meet
• Community: Discord or Circle
• Course materials: Google Drive/Notion
• Enrollment/onboarding: automated email + calendar

Then migrate to Teachfloor/Circle once the administrative overhead starts costing you more than the software.

One important calculation

Suppose you sell a cohort for $750 to 15 students:

Revenue = $11,250

A platform taking 10% costs you $1,125 per cohort.

A platform costing $89/month costs you roughly $89–$178 for a 4–8 week cohort.

That's why, for a cohort business rather than a $20 self-paced course, I'd strongly favor flat monthly pricing + Stripe fees over revenue-share pricing.

My shortlist:
Teachfloor → Ruzuku → Circle → Maven, in that order, assuming your priority is keeping platform costs low while still delivering a genuinely cohort-based experience.

If your priority is “I want to run live cohorts without giving a big chunk of every sale to the platform,” I’d look at these first:

\*Pricing changes, and annual vs. monthly billing makes a substantial difference. Current 2026 comparisons put Ruzuku at free for up to 5 students, Thinkific around $36–$49+, Teachfloor around $89, and Maven at roughly 10% on paid enrollments. www.teachfloor.comwww.ruzuku.comwww.guideflow.com

My picks for your situation

1. Ruzuku — cheapest purpose-built option

This is probably where I'd start if you're validating your first cohort. It supports scheduled/dripped content, discussions, live sessions, and cohort-style delivery without taking a percentage of your sales. The free tier is particularly interesting if you're starting with only a handful of students. www.teachfloor.comwww.ruzuku.comwww.guideflow.com

2. Thinkific — best balance of cheap + professional

If you expect to eventually have multiple cohorts, evergreen courses, or a larger student base, Thinkific is worth considering. The course infrastructure and checkout are more mature, and you can avoid platform transaction fees when using its payment setup. The downside is that its community/cohort functionality isn't as deeply designed around cohorts as some alternatives. www.ruzuku.com

3. Teachfloor — best actual cohort experience

If the cohort itself is your product—weekly assignments, peer interaction, discussions, feedback, live sessions—I'd put Teachfloor near the top. It is specifically oriented toward cohort/community learning and charges a flat subscription rather than taking a percentage of revenue. www.teachfloor.com

4. Maven — best way to avoid monthly cost while testing

Maven is interesting if you don't want to pay anything until you make a sale. It's built specifically around live cohort courses and includes marketplace/discovery functionality. The tradeoff is that you give up roughly 10% of paid enrollments, so it gets expensive once you're selling significant volume. www.guideflow.com

For example, on a $500 cohort with 20 students ($10,000 revenue), a 10% platform fee is about $1,000. At that point, a flat-fee platform can become much cheaper.

There's also a dirt-cheap "DIY stack"

If you're comfortable cobbling a few tools together, you don't actually need a traditional course platform.

Landing page + Stripe + Zoom + Google Drive/Notion + email + private community

You could use:

• Stripe → payments
• Zoom → live classes
• Notion/Google Drive → curriculum/materials
• Slack/Discord → cohort community
• MailerLite/Kit → email
• A simple website/landing page → sales

That can get your software costs extremely low. You're essentially paying payment-processing fees rather than a course platform fee. The downside is more manual administration.

What I'd do if I were starting from scratch

First cohort: Ruzuku or Maven
→ prove people will pay.

Once you're consistently selling: Thinkific or Teachfloor
→ move to a flat monthly fee and keep more of your revenue.

If you're extremely cost-sensitive: DIY stack
→ Stripe + Zoom + Notion + community + email.

I'd avoid Kajabi, Circle, and similar $80–$150+/month platforms initially unless you specifically need their marketing/community ecosystem. Current comparisons put Circle around $89/month and Teachfloor around $89/month, while higher-end all-in-one platforms can be substantially more. www.guideflow.com

If you tell me (1) your expected cohort price, (2) number of students, and (3) whether the classes are live on Zoom, I can calculate the actual dollar cost per cohort for 5–6 platforms and tell you which one is cheapest at your scale.

If you’re selling cohort-based classes and trying to keep costs low, I’d avoid jumping straight to expensive “all-in-one” platforms. The cheapest setup depends on whether your value comes mostly from live teaching, community/accountability, or course content.

Here are the options I’d shortlist:

A few budget-friendly setups:

Option 1: Cheapest “just launch” stack

• Landing page: your website or a simple page builder
• Payments: Stripe
• Community: Discord, Slack, or a private group
• Live sessions: Zoom/Google Meet
• Content: Google Drive/Notion

This can get you running for almost no monthly cost.

Option 2: Best balance for a first paid cohort

• Maven if you want cohort-native tools and don’t mind revenue share.
• Thinkific if you want to own the customer relationship and build a course library over time. www.thinkific.comwww.ruzuku.com

Option 3: Community-led cohort (coaching, masterminds, accountability)

• Skool or Circle-style community platforms make sense if the discussions, peer feedback, and relationships are the main product. www.ruzuku.com

A simple rule of thumb:

• Under $2k/month revenue: don’t overpay; use a lean stack.
• $2k–$10k/month: move to a dedicated platform when admin starts eating your time.
• $10k+/month: optimize for automation, marketing, and student experience.

If you tell me:

1. your expected cohort size (10 people vs 100+),
2. price per student, and
3. whether it’s live coaching vs prerecorded lessons + community,

I can narrow it to the cheapest option that won’t box you in.

Yes. If your main constraint is “I don't want to give a platform a big percentage of every cohort sale,” I’d focus on platforms with either a low flat monthly fee or a low/no transaction fee.

My shortlist

Current comparisons put Ruzuku, Thinkific, LearnWorlds, Teachable, Maven and Skool among the more affordable options, although pricing and fee structures change frequently. www.ruzuku.com

💰 If money is really tight

I'd seriously consider a DIY cohort stack:

• Zoom/Google Meet → live classes
• Google Classroom / Notion → curriculum, assignments and resources
• Discord/Slack → cohort community
• Stripe → payment
• Google Forms/Tally → applications/intake
• Calendly → scheduling

You can start with essentially no LMS subscription at all. The tradeoff is that you're assembling the pieces yourself.

For a cohort where you're teaching live and the students mostly need a schedule, recordings, assignments, community and payments, you don't necessarily need a sophisticated "course platform."

🏆 What I'd pick

If you already have an audience:
Thinkific or Ruzuku. You pay a predictable monthly amount rather than sacrificing a chunk of every enrollment. Thinkific is particularly attractive if you expect to eventually have multiple courses. www.ruzuku.com

If you want a genuinely cohort-native experience:
Maven. It's designed around live cohort courses rather than trying to turn a traditional self-paced LMS into one. The catch is the revenue share, so it's inexpensive to start but can become expensive once you're selling a lot. www.ruzuku.com

If community is the product:
Skool is worth investigating. It's more community-first than traditional LMS-first, which can work extremely well for accountability-heavy cohorts. creatoreconomy.org

If you want the absolute lowest-cost experiment:
I'd do the DIY stack until you've run 1–2 cohorts and know people will pay. Then move to an LMS once the operational hassle becomes more expensive than the subscription.

One important warning: don't choose based solely on the advertised monthly price. A $29/month platform taking 7.5% of every sale can cost dramatically more than a $50/month platform taking 0%. www.ruzuku.comwww.savingsec.com

If you tell me roughly (1) your expected cohort price, (2) number of students, and (3) whether classes are live on Zoom, I can calculate the cheapest setup for you—including what you'd actually pay at 10, 25, 50, and 100 students.

If you’re selling cohort-based classes (live sessions + community + assignments + a start/end date), you usually don’t need an expensive “all-in-one” platform at the beginning. The cheapest route is often to combine a few low-cost tools rather than pay $100–$300+/month for a full academy platform.

Here are options worth looking at:

Lowest-cost “stack it yourself” approach

Many first-time cohort creators use:

• Payments: Stripe Payment Links or Gumroad
• Community: Discord, Slack, or a free Circle/Skool-style community trial
• Live classes: Zoom or Google Meet
• Course materials: Notion, Google Drive, or a simple website
• Email: MailerLite or ConvertKit

That can get you running for roughly $0–$30/month, aside from payment processing.

My shortlist by situation

You have an audience already (LinkedIn, newsletter, YouTube, etc.)
→ Start with a DIY stack or Thinkific/Podia. Avoid revenue-sharing marketplaces.

You’re validating your first cohort
→ Maven can make sense because you avoid upfront software costs, and Teachfloor is worth considering if the cohort workflow itself is the differentiator. www.teachfloor.comwww.ruzuku.com

Your value is the community/network
→ Circle or Mighty Networks.

You want maximum profit margin
→ DIY stack first. Upgrade only after you’ve proven people will pay.

A practical test: if you’re running one cohort of 10–30 students, I would usually avoid paying $100+/month until the cohort is consistently profitable. A $500/month course launch can justify better tooling; a first $1k–$5k cohort usually benefits more from keeping costs low.

If your priority is selling live cohort-based classes without getting eaten alive by platform fees, I’d look at these first:

Pricing changes fairly frequently, so I'd verify the current plan before committing. Recent 2026 comparisons put Ruzuku at 0% transaction fees, Thinkific at 0% with its payment solution, Teachfloor around $89/mo, and Maven around a 10% revenue share. www.ruzuku.com

My picks for your situation

1. Ruzuku — best if you want to spend almost nothing

This is the one I'd investigate first if you're testing your first cohort. It's specifically designed around cohort-style courses, including scheduled content and discussion, and has a free option for very small cohorts. www.ruzuku.com

2. Thinkific — best if you want something you'll grow into

Thinkific supports live cohorts, self-paced courses, assignments, communities, payment plans, and subscriptions. Its current platform also emphasizes selling and checkout rather than requiring a separate payment stack. www.thinkific.comwww.teachfloor.com

3. Teachfloor — best actual cohort experience

If the cohort is the product—not just a prerecorded course with a weekly Zoom call—Teachfloor is worth considering. It's built around collaborative learning, peer review, scheduled learning, and live sessions. The downside is the ~$89/month starting price. www.teachfloor.com

4. Maven — best if you want help finding students

Maven is unusually cohort-native and has marketplace/discovery built in. The tradeoff is that you give up a percentage of revenue rather than paying a conventional monthly SaaS fee. That's potentially attractive when you're starting from zero, but painful once you're doing substantial revenue. www.ruzuku.com

An even cheaper approach

You don't necessarily need a dedicated course platform at all.

For a first cohort, you could use:

Stripe/payment checkout + Zoom + Google Drive/Notion + Discord/Slack

Then your costs are mostly payment processing rather than paying $50–$150/month for software. You can give students a simple member page containing the schedule, recordings, assignments, and links.

I'd especially consider this if you're selling something like a 4–6 week cohort with 10–30 students, where the live interaction is the main value and you don't have hundreds of lessons to organize.

One important distinction: don't optimize solely for the lowest monthly price. A 10% revenue share can be much more expensive than a $50/month platform once you're selling $5,000–$10,000 cohorts. Conversely, when you're making your first $500–$1,000, paying $89/month can hurt.

If you tell me roughly (a) what you'd charge per student, (b) expected students per cohort, and (c) whether you need community/discussion, I can calculate the cheapest setup for you and compare the actual dollar cost of 4–5 options.

If your main goal is cohort-based classes without giving a big percentage of revenue to the platform, I’d look at these in roughly this order:

Prices vary by billing cycle and change frequently, so I'd verify before committing. www.teachfloor.comwww.ruzuku.com

My recommendations

1. If you have almost no budget: Gumroad + Zoom + Discord/Slack

This is probably the route I'd take for your first cohort.

• Gumroad handles checkout/payment.
• Zoom handles live classes.
• Discord, Slack, or a private community handles discussion.
• Google Drive/Notion handles materials.
• You don't pay a monthly LMS subscription.

The downside is that Gumroad's roughly 10% transaction fee can become expensive once you're making meaningful revenue. www.savingsec.com

2. If you want a real cohort platform: Ruzuku

Ruzuku is worth investigating because it's specifically designed around online/cohort teaching rather than trying to turn a generic course platform into one. It supports scheduled content, discussions, live sessions and certificates, with 0% platform transaction fees on its paid plans. www.teachfloor.comwww.ruzuku.com

3. If you want to minimize fees as you scale: Thinkific

Thinkific is more conventional LMS software, but it's attractive if you're worried about revenue-share fees. Its payment system can eliminate platform transaction fees, leaving you primarily with payment-processing costs. www.teachfloor.com

4. If the cohort experience itself is the product: Teachfloor

Teachfloor is more purpose-built for cohorts: peer review, scheduled learning, Zoom integration, attendance, etc. The tradeoff is the ~$89/month starting price, so I'd use it once you know you'll have enough students to justify the subscription. www.teachfloor.com

5. If you want zero software subscription: Moodle

Moodle is open-source and can be self-hosted, so there's no platform revenue share. The catch is that you're taking on hosting, setup and maintenance yourself. www.teachfloor.com

The important economics

Suppose you sell a $500 cohort to 20 people = $10,000.

A 10% revenue-share platform costs you roughly $1,000 before payment processing.

A $50/month platform costs roughly $50–$100, depending on how long you're running the cohort.

So if you already have an audience and can fill your seats yourself, a flat-fee platform is usually dramatically cheaper. If you don't have an audience, a revenue-share platform such as Maven can make more sense because you're partly paying for its discovery/distribution. Maven is specifically built around live cohorts and marketplace discovery. www.ruzuku.com

My short version:

• $0 upfront: Gumroad + Zoom + community
• Best cheap dedicated cohort tool: Ruzuku
• Best once you're selling consistently: Thinkific
• Best cohort-specific experience: Teachfloor
• Best if you need students discovered for you: Maven

If you tell me roughly what you'd charge per student, expected cohort size, and whether you already have an audience, I can calculate the cheapest setup for your first 3 cohorts.