Online Course Hosting Platform: 8 Options Compared (2026)

An online course hosting platform stores, delivers, and monetizes your video lessons under your brand. The right pick depends on where fees live: a $100 sale nets $96.80 on a 0% platform (Stripe only), $86.30 on Teachable's 5% fee, or $69.50 on Gumroad's 10% + $0.50. As of September 2026, entry pricing ranges from $31/month (Zanfia, billed annually) to roughly $149/month (Kajabi). This guide compares the top eight options by fees, hosting mechanics, and what you keep.

What "hosting" actually means (and why it changes the price)

Course hosting is not one job. It is four: storing the video files, streaming them to students, gating access behind a paywall, and processing the payment. Most creators think about the paywall and forget the other three, then get surprised by the bill.

Native video hosting means the platform stores and streams your videos on its own infrastructure. Player-only integrations (YouTube, Vimeo embeds) mean you pay a second vendor for storage and bandwidth. A 20-lesson course averaging 15 minutes each at 1080p runs about 45 GB of storage and, at scale, hundreds of GB of monthly bandwidth. That is a separate invoice you would not see in the platform's monthly price.

Two other line items hide inside "hosting": the platform fee (the platform's cut of each sale, discretionary and varies wildly) and the processor fee (Stripe or PayPal, roughly 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction in the US, unavoidable). Separating those two is the single most useful frame when comparing options. A "cheap" platform that charges 10% on top of Stripe is more expensive at scale than a "premium" platform that charges 0%.

Before shortlisting, read our online course platform comparison for a broader feature-by-feature breakdown, then come back for the hosting-specific math.

The eight platforms that matter in 2026

Every option below hosts video natively, sells the access, and delivers the content without you stitching three tools together. Prices verified on each vendor's pricing page in September 2026.

Two options are missing on purpose. Podcast hosts (Buzzsprout, Transistor) and pure LMS tools (Moodle, TalentLMS) solve different problems. If you are teaching a paid audience with video, the eight above are the field.

Doing the math: what you actually keep on a $10,000 month

Adjectives lie. Numbers do not. Say you sell a $200 course fifty times in a month. Gross revenue: $10,000. Here is what lands in your bank account across the top options, after both platform and processor fees.

The gap between the cheapest option (Gumroad, "free to start") and the fee-free options is $1,025 per month, or $12,300 per year. Now factor in the subscription cost. Zanfia at $31/month adds $372/year. Kajabi at $149/month adds $1,788/year. Even after Kajabi's subscription, you are $10,500 ahead of Gumroad annually at this revenue level. The "free" platform is the most expensive one on this list.

This is the whole reason to separate platform fee from processor fee. Stripe's $305 is going to leave whichever platform you pick. The other numbers are optional. For a deeper look at pricing your course to survive these fees, see how to price an online course in 2026.

Video mechanics: where "hosting" gets expensive

Every platform above hosts video, but the mechanics differ, and the hidden costs live here. Three variables matter: storage limit, bandwidth policy, and whether you can bring outside video without paying twice.

Native players (Zanfia, Kajabi, Teachable, Thinkific) charge nothing extra for delivering video within your plan's storage cap. Zanfia's Starter includes 50 GB, Growth 250 GB, Pro 750 GB, and Scale 1.5 TB, with optional storage add-ons from $4/month for 10 GB. Kajabi lists unlimited hosting on all tiers but caps active students per plan. Teachable and Thinkific set softer limits and rely on fair use.

Then there is the second-invoice problem. If your platform forces you to embed Vimeo or Wistia, you pay for hosting twice. A course with 45 GB of video on Vimeo Pro runs $20/month, or $240/year, on top of your platform bill. Read our course hosting costs breakdown for the full comparison of native player versus Vimeo versus Wistia versus Bunny.

Zanfia hosts natively on Bunny.net infrastructure (a fact from our own product), supports 240p to 2160p, and includes chapters, timestamps, and watch-time stats without a second vendor. That said, communities inside the Zanfia mobile app are still rolling out per workspace, so if mobile community access is critical to your launch, verify it is enabled on your account before you commit.

The sales pillar: checkout mechanics that decide the sale

Hosting a course perfectly and then losing the sale at a two-page checkout is the most common self-inflicted wound in this category. The sales pillar is what turns a visitor with intent into a paid student, and it is where the eight platforms diverge most.

Four checkout mechanics move revenue more than any other. Order bumps (a one-click add-on on the checkout page) typically lift average order value 10 to 30 percent. One-click upsells after purchase capture the second yes when trust is highest. Installments (three or four payments) let you price a $500 course as "3 x $167" and expand who can afford it. Multi-currency and local payment methods (iDEAL in the Netherlands, SEPA across the EU, Bancontact in Belgium) recover the sales you would otherwise lose to a "USD only" wall.

Kajabi has order bumps and upsells on higher tiers. Teachable ships a basic checkout with limited bump support. Gumroad has none of this in a serious form. Thinkific requires apps for most of it. Zanfia bakes order bumps, installments, multi-currency, and a native checkout on your own domain into the product without add-ons, and its AI team can wire the upsell for you by voice or chat. If you sell above $200 per course, the sales pillar is where the platform earns its price back many times over.

Kajabi vs Zanfia: same job, very different price

These two get compared the most because they solve the same problem: an all-in-one where you host, sell, and deliver without stitching tools. The gap is pricing and how much the AI does for you.

Kajabi's Basic plan starts around $149/month (as of September 2026, per Kajabi's pricing page). Kajabi has spent years building a mature marketing suite: email broadcasts, funnels, landing pages. That is its headline argument.

Zanfia's Starter is $31/month billed annually, or $39/month month-to-month. The framing is different: Zanfia positions itself as an AI team that runs the business, not a set of features you configure. The creator dictates what to do, by chat or by voice, and the assistant performs actions available in the interface. Zanfia also exposes an MCP endpoint so external AI agents can act on the workspace directly. Availability of that endpoint and other AI features depends on the plan, so check the current Zanfia pricing page before you commit to a tier.

At $10,000/month in revenue, the choice comes down to what you value. Kajabi's mature marketing tooling justifies its price if you rely on it heavily. Zanfia's price and voice-first workflow win if you want to spend less time in dashboards. Honest limit: some Zanfia capabilities like referral programs and native funnels are marked "coming soon" on the pricing page and should not be treated as available today.

Gumroad and the "free tier" trap

Gumroad markets itself as free to start, which is technically true and financially misleading. The company charges 10% + $0.50 on every direct sale (per Gumroad's pricing page). On our $10,000 month, that is $1,025 gone. Compared to a $31/month subscription with 0% platform fees, Gumroad costs $994 more that month, every month.

The break-even point matters. If you sell less than roughly $310/month, Gumroad's per-transaction model beats a $31/month subscription. Above that, every additional dollar of revenue makes the subscription option cheaper. Most creators building a real business cross that line in the first month.

Gumroad also lacks a native community, and its checkout runs on Gumroad's domain by default. For a $10 ebook, that is fine. For a $500 flagship course, the trust cost of a generic checkout matters. This is why our best platforms for selling online courses comparison ranks Gumroad low for course businesses specifically.

Community-first: Skool vs the all-in-ones

Skool costs $99/month flat with 0% platform fees, and it is community-first with a basic course module attached (per Skool's pricing page). If your business model is "community with courses inside", Skool wins on focus. Its gamification and engagement mechanics are stronger than most all-in-ones.

If your business is courses with a community attached, an all-in-one like Zanfia, Kajabi, or Podia serves you better. Course structure (drip, quizzes, certificates), analytics on completion rates, and native video pipelines are deeper on course-first platforms. Zanfia's community product ships with channels, direct messages, roles, and a community AI agent that writes from your content, with every AI post labeled as AI (which matters for disclosure and trust).

To decide, ask what your audience opens the app for. If it is peer conversation and you would still exist without the course, Skool. If it is the course and the community keeps students engaged, an all-in-one.

How to pick without regret

Ignore the feature lists for a minute. Pick based on three questions.

Question one: what is your monthly revenue target for the next 12 months? Under $500/month, Gumroad's per-transaction model is fine. Between $500 and $50,000/month, a subscription with 0% platform fees (Zanfia, Kajabi, Thinkific) is cheaper and cleaner. Above that, negotiate custom pricing with any of them.

Question two: how do you want to work? If you enjoy configuring funnels and A/B testing subject lines, Kajabi's marketing suite rewards that. If you would rather dictate to an assistant and have it done, Zanfia's AI-first workflow is the shorter path. If you just want a clean course builder with nothing extra, Teachable or Thinkific.

Question three: are you running a course business or a community business? Skool for community-first. All-in-ones for course-first with community attached.

Before signing up anywhere, validate demand. Our guide on validating an online course idea covers the pre-sell mechanics that prevent you from paying for hosting on a course nobody buys.

Frequently asked questions

FAQ

FAQ

What is the difference between a platform fee and a processor fee?

The processor fee is what Stripe or PayPal charges to move money, roughly 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction in the US, and it is unavoidable. The platform fee is what the course platform itself takes on top, and it varies from 0% (Zanfia, Kajabi, Thinkific) to 10% + $0.50 (Gumroad). Separating these two is the single most useful frame when comparing options, because processor fees leave with any platform while platform fees are optional.

Do I need separate video hosting like Vimeo or Wistia?

Not with a platform that hosts video natively. Zanfia, Kajabi, Teachable, and Thinkific store and stream video on their own infrastructure within your plan's storage cap, so there is no second invoice. Platforms that force embeds from Vimeo or Wistia mean you pay twice, adding roughly $240/year for a mid-sized course library on top of the platform subscription.

When does Gumroad's free tier actually cost more than a subscription?

Above roughly $310/month in revenue. Gumroad charges 10% + $0.50 per sale, so at $310/month you pay about $31 in fees, matching a $31/month subscription with 0% platform fees. Every additional dollar past that point makes the subscription option cheaper. Most creators building a real business cross this line in the first month.

How much do I actually keep on a $10,000 month?

On a 0% platform fee option like Zanfia, Kajabi, or Thinkific, you keep $9,695 after Stripe's $305 in processor fees. On Teachable's 5% Basic plan you keep $9,195. On Gumroad you keep $8,670. The gap between Gumroad and a fee-free platform is $1,025 per month, or $12,300 per year at this revenue level.

Which platform should a first-time course creator pick?

It depends on your revenue expectation and how you want to work. If you plan to sell more than $500/month, pick a subscription with 0% platform fees over Gumroad. If you value a mature marketing stack and can afford $149/month, Kajabi. If you want the lowest entry price with an AI-first workflow where you dictate instead of configure, Zanfia at $31/month billed annually. If community is the core product and courses are secondary, Skool.