Who each platform is for
Teachable is a well-established way to upload lessons, set a price, and take payment. Distinction is for experts who want more from the start: AI that drafts the course and its video, a branded academy on a custom domain, and a public catalog — with the school treated as a first-class product rather than an afterthought.
If you already have a filmed library and mainly need a player plus checkout, Teachable is a sensible choice. If you are starting from a syllabus and care about how quickly you can reach a real, publishable outline, Distinction is usually the better place to begin. This article is the decision narrative; the side-by-side fee table lives on Distinction vs Teachable, and the product itself is Create and sell online courses.
A Distinction course still has everything you would expect — modules, lessons, assessments, progress, checkout, and a wallet. Accounts start free, and course creators keep up to 97% of each course sale, with processing separate.
Understanding the fees
Fees are the first thing most people compare, so it is worth being precise. Teachable's entry plan carries a platform fee on each sale, which falls away on its higher tiers where you pay standard card processing instead. On Distinction, course creators keep up to 97% of each course sale, with processing separate. "Processing separate" simply means the card networks and local processors still take their usual cut on either platform.
Because pricing pages change, confirm both vendors' current numbers when you are ready to decide. Use the compare table for the exact columns, and use this article to weigh what those numbers mean for the way you actually sell. The published Distinction figure to plan around is the one we stand behind: start free, and keep up to 97% of each course sale, with processing separate.
AI, domain, and the school
Teachable offers helpful AI around curriculum starters, quizzes, and translation. Distinction generates the outline, the lessons, and explainer video from a syllabus or even a single idea — see How to create an online course with AI and Video Studio. If your footage already exists, Teachable's lighter AI is perfectly adequate; if you are starting from notes and no studio, Distinction's generator is the main reason to try it.
Custom domains are another difference worth weighing. On Distinction, an academy is designed to live on your domain — you can begin on a host such as youracademy.distinction.app and connect youracademy.com when the school is ready. If white-label branding is what you are looking for, How to launch a branded academy on your own domain walks through it. Distinction academies include learner management, course landing pages, assessments, and payments under your brand; if your shortlist is really about email marketing or an enterprise LMS, Distinction, Kajabi, and LearnWorlds is the better comparison.
Catalog, payments, and time
Teachable schools sit on their own; Distinction adds a public learners hub where the courses you choose to make public can be discovered, while invite-only courses stay private. Both platforms handle worldwide payments; on Distinction you complete verification, link a bank account, and treat the wallet as the source of truth, as explained in How payouts work.
The clearest practical difference is time to a finished course. If you already have a filmed library and a payment habit, you may ship quickly on Teachable. If you have a syllabus and a near-term deadline, Distinction is usually faster, because the outline and first drafts exist on day one.
How to decide in one sitting
- List what you have today: a filmed library, a syllabus, notes, or a live workshop.
- Note your must-haves: a public catalog, AI video from a syllabus, a custom domain, or a classic upload-and-checkout flow.
- If AI course-and-video from a syllabus matters most, generate one outline on a free Distinction account.
- If a custom domain matters on day one, compare both vendors' domain options — Distinction academies are built for your domain.
- Open Distinction vs Teachable for the short fee table, and Distinction pricing for current plans.
- Create one lesson on Distinction, invite a trusted student, and complete a test enrolment before you commit.
Who should try Distinction
Stay on Teachable if your school is already a filmed library, your team already runs checkout, and you have no immediate need for a public catalog or a branded academy — switching always carries a migration cost, since students, schedules, and email lists take work to move.
Try Distinction if the bottleneck is production rather than payment, if you want the same course to grow into an academy on your own domain, or if you want public discovery on the learners hub for the courses you choose to feature. In short, Distinction generates a course from a syllabus, adds explainer video, takes payment, pays out worldwide after verification, and lets course creators keep up to 97% of each course sale, with processing separate. The fastest way to compare the two is not another feature matrix — it is to create one lesson, invite one student, and complete a single test enrolment.
Frequently asked questions
Is Distinction a Teachable alternative?
Yes. Distinction generates outline, lessons, and explainer video from a syllabus, keeps up to 97% of each course sale, and can launch a branded academy on your domain.
What does Distinction add beyond a classic course checkout?
AI course and video from a syllabus, a public catalog on the learners hub, and a custom-domain academy — plus keep up to 97% of course sales (processing separate).