The honest scoreboard
Tired of comparing platforms?Here's the honest version.
We've reviewed every major platform our customers come from. Here's what they actually do, what they actually charge, and where they fall short. No straw-manning, no fake “X” marks — if a competitor does something well, we'll say so.
02 · The master scoreboard
Every major platform, side by side.
True monthly cost assumes $5,000/mo in revenue and 1,000 contacts — a real solo coach or course creator. Click any platform name to see the deep comparison page. Where a competitor does something well, we mark it ✓. Where they don't, we say so plainly.
| Platform | True monthly cost at $5K/mo, 1K contacts |
Transaction fees | Native LMS | Native community | Native email | Native CRM | Native affiliate | Founder access | Years | Funding |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kajabi | $143 + 0–2% | 0% (Kajabi Pay only) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Limited | Growth+ only | — | 2010 | $550M VC |
| Teachable | $29 + 7.5% ≈ $404 | 5–7.5% on lower tiers | ✓ | — | — | — | Pro+ ($199) only | — | 2014 | Acquired by Hotmart |
| Thinkific | $49–$199 | 0% on paid plans | ✓ | Basic | — | — | Higher tiers | — | 2012 | Public (TSX) |
| Podia | $33–$75 + 5–8% | 5–8% on lower plans | ✓ | Basic | ✓ | — | Higher tier | — | 2014 | Bootstrapped |
| Kartra | $119–$549 | 0% | Basic | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — | 2018 | VC-backed |
| Skool | $99 + 10% = $599 | 10% on community revenue | Basic | ✓ | — | — | — | — | 2019 | VC-backed |
| Mighty Networks | $41–$179 + 0–3% | 0–3% | Basic | ✓ | Basic | — | — | — | 2017 | VC-backed |
| Circle | $49–$219 + 4% | 4% on Basic plan | Add-on | ✓ | Basic | — | — | — | 2020 | VC-backed |
| Kit (ConvertKit) | $25–$66 | 0% | — | — | ✓ | ✓ | — | — | 2013 | Bootstrapped |
| ActiveCampaign | $49–$259+ | 0% | — | — | ✓ | ✓ | — | — | 2003 | Public |
| Flodesk | $38–$59 | 0% (email) · 1.9% checkout | — | — | ✓ | Basic | — | — | 2019 | Bootstrapped |
| Keap | $249–$279+ | 0% | — | — | ✓ | ✓ | — | — | 2001 | Private equity |
| ClickFunnels | $97–$297 | 0% | Basic | Basic | Basic | Basic | ✓ | — | 2014 | Bootstrapped |
| GoHighLevel | $97–$497 | 0% | Add-on | Basic | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — | 2018 | VC-backed |
| Systeme.io | $0–$97 | 0% | ✓ | Basic | ✓ | Basic | ✓ | — | 2018 | Bootstrapped (FR) |
| Stan Store | $29–$99 | 0% (platform) | Limited | — | Basic | — | — | — | 2020 | Founders Fund |
| Gumroad | 10% on free · flat $10 | 10% / 0% on paid | — | — | Basic | — | ✓ | — | 2011 | Bootstrapped |
| Patreon | 8–12% + 3% PP | ~11–15% all-in | — | Basic | Basic | — | — | — | 2013 | $412M VC |
| Substack | 10% + 2.9% Stripe | 10% on paid | — | Newsletter only | ✓ (newsletter) | — | — | — | 2017 | VC-backed |
| Showit | $19–$34 + WordPress | Depends on stack | — | — | — | — | — | — | 2008 | Bootstrapped |
| WordPress + plugins | $150–$500/mo (stack) | Depends on stack | via plugins | via plugins | via plugins | via plugins | via plugins | — | 2003 | Open source |
| Lumant | ~€39–€99 | 0% | ✓ | Basic | ✓ | Basic | — | — | ~2022 | VC (DK) |
| Simplero | $59–$249 · 0% fees | 0% on every plan | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | 2009 | Bootstrapped |
✓ native and full · “Basic” / “Limited” · “—” not in product · “Add-on” via paid integration or external tool
Prices verified from each vendor's pricing page. “True monthly cost” shows base plan plus typical transaction fees on $5,000/mo in revenue — not the marketing sticker. Some platforms (Kit, ActiveCampaign, Flodesk) are excellent at what they do; they're listed here because customers come to us from them when they outgrow a single category.
03 · Pick your starting point
Coming from somewhere specific? Start there.
Each comparison is its own page — with verified pricing, attributed customer quotes, and an honest acknowledgment of what the other platform actually does well. Click the one that matches where you are.
All-in-one platforms
Community-first
Email / CRM-first
Funnel / agency tools
Link-in-bio & creator storefronts
Membership & patronage
Site builders & DIY
04 · Marketing claims vs fine print
What they say. What the math says.
A short tour through the gap between the homepage hero and the pricing footnote. We're not picking on anyone — these are real claims from real platforms, with real math.
| Platform | The claim | The fine print |
|---|---|---|
| Stan Store | “Save 20% with annual billing.” | $29 × 12 = $348/yr, not $360. So $300 vs $348 is 13.8% off — not 20%. They invented an extra $12 of anchor to make the discount look bigger. See full teardown → |
| Teachable | “0% transaction fees.” | Only on Pro ($119/mo) and above. The Starter plan still charges 5–7.5% on every sale. At $5K/mo in revenue, that's $4,140/year in fees on top of your subscription. See full math → |
| Skool | “$99/month, simple pricing.” | Plus 10% of every dollar of community revenue, forever. At $5K/mo that's $6,000/year in fees. At $10K/mo, $12,000/year. Skool only profits when you do — which sounds aligned, until you realize it scales with you. See full math → |
| Kajabi | “All-in-one platform for creators.” | In January 2026 they removed the $89 plan entirely, cut Basic contact limits from 10,000 to 2,500, and raised every tier with no grandfathering for existing users. “All-in-one” is true — “stable” isn't. See full breakdown → |
| Patreon | “8% Pro plan fees.” | Plus ~3% payment processing, plus payout fees, plus currency conversion. All-in, most creators report 11–15% of revenue going to Patreon. And you don't own your audience — you can't email them outside the platform. |
| Lumant | “Spar +849 kr/måned vs andre platforme.” | “Andre platforme” — which ones, exactly? Honest math names names. We compare every cell on this table against an actual competitor with an actual price. See full comparison → |
| Simplero | “Pay annually, save 17%.” | Starter is $70/mo monthly ($840/yr) or $59/mo billed annually ($708/yr). $708 vs $840 is exactly 17% off the real monthly rate — no invented anchor. The number you see is the number you pay. |
All figures verified from the vendor's own pricing pages, last reviewed May 2026. We update this page when prices change.
05 · The universal differentiator
What doesn't fit in a feature matrix.
Some things every comparison page on this site has in common. Whichever competitor you came from, this is the part of the answer the table can't show you.
Founder still answers email.
Not as a stunt — because Calvin built Simplero for his own coaching business and uses it every day. There's also a concierge tier ($1,500–$2,500/mo by account size) for direct line to product leadership and priority feature work. Try getting that from a $2B Kajabi.
Course AI on a different level.
AI transcripts and subtitles, AI-enhanced search across your library, custom AI bots trained on your content, and the Simplero.coach AI for live debugging. Most platforms tacked on a chatbot. We rebuilt the learning experience around AI.
17 years bootstrapped.
Founded 2009. Profitable. No VC, no acquisition risk, no investors waiting for a return that has to come out of your pricing eventually. $912M+ earned by creators on the platform. We earn money the same way you do: by being worth it.
0% transaction fees. Always.
Every plan, every processor, every sale. Not just on “Kajabi Payments,” not just on “Pro and above.” We don't tax your success. The plan price is the price.
06 · Customers say
Verbatim. Real names. Real businesses.
Four customers, four flavors of the same answer. Pricing, support, consolidation, scale. We didn't edit these.
“I scored 12 platforms on a spreadsheet. Simplero won — not because it was the cheapest, but because it was the only one that didn't make me build a Frankenstack of tools to run my actual business.”
George Kao
Authentic Business educator
“My income tripled, quadrupled in the last six years on Simplero. The platform grew with me — I never had to migrate.”
Kira Sutherland
Naturopath · sports nutritionist
“I ended up paying my annual plan for Simplero in what I was paying for one month of all my subscriptions. One platform replaced five.”
Bunny Young
A Better Place Consulting
“There are no chatbot-gates you have to get through to get support from an actual human. The team responds, listens, and actually fixes things.”
Verified Trustpilot review
trustpilot.com/review/simplero.com
07 · Simplero pricing
Simple, honest pricing.
No transaction fees. No revenue share. No surprise overages. Prices shown are the monthly rate when paid annually — the way most customers buy.
Starter
$59/mo
billed annually · or $70/mo monthly
10 products, 10 courses, 2 sites, 500 contacts. Email, courses, payments, website, automations — all in one place from day one. 0% transaction fees.
Choose StarterScale
$149/mo
billed annually · or $179/mo monthly
Unlimited products, courses, and sites. 1,000 contacts. Affiliates, help desk, upsells, text messages, API. Where most growing businesses land.
Choose ScaleSkyrocket
$249/mo
billed annually · or $299/mo monthly
5,000 contacts. Everything in Scale plus unlimited storage, AI transcripts, AI bots, split testing, sales pipelines. Overage above 10K: $15/mo per 2,500 contacts.
Choose Skyrocket08 · Final CTA
Stop comparing.Start building.
Founded 2009 · Bootstrapped · Proud of it.
Make it simplero™
