ColibriOS

Teachable alternatives: the one with no product cap, no student cap and the books built in.

Courses, coaching and memberships without a limit on products or students, on your own domain from day one, plus 1:1 booking from your real calendar, workshops and retreats, a CRM with email and text, and bookkeeping that keeps itself. One flat price, no percentage of a sale.

If any of this sounds familiar

  • A cap on products and active students, so growing means a plan change, not a bigger list.
  • A transaction fee on the entry plan, and a custom domain only on the plan two steps up.
  • Coaching lives in a product block, but your calendar, your workshop and your retreat still need other tools.
  • Course income, coaching income and everything else meet in a spreadsheet at tax time.

ColibriOS and Teachable, side by side

Teachable is a course platform for creators selling courses, coaching products, digital downloads and memberships, with student apps and global tax handling built in.

FeatureColibriOSTeachable
1:1 booking and scheduling
Yes. Booking with intake forms, waivers and paymentsServe
Partly. Coaching products schedule meetings and video calls with an intake block; an open booking calendar reading your Google or Outlook availability is not described
Source, checked August 2026
Classes, workshops and events
Yes. Classes, workshops, retreats and events with ticketing and check-inGather
Partly. One-on-one and group coaching products with live calls; in-person or ticketed events are not listed
Source, checked August 2026
Capacity and waitlists
Yes. Capacity, automatic waitlists and door check-inGather
Not stated. Not listed on their pricing or features pages
Source, checked August 2026
Memberships and class packs
Yes. Recurring memberships, class packs and member pricingGather
Yes. Memberships and subscriptions are listed as a product type on every plan
Source, checked August 2026
Online courses
Yes. Courses with enrollment, student payments and portalsServe
Yes. Courses with quizzes; 5, 10 or 50 products by plan and 100, 1,000 or 5,000 active students
Source, checked August 2026
Website on your own domain
Yes. Editable website on your own custom domainServe
Partly. Site builder on every plan; a custom domain is listed from the Growth plan up
Source, checked August 2026
CRM and email marketing
Yes. Full CRM, email campaigns, funnels and textingServe
Partly. Built-in email marketing is listed; a CRM with contact records, a lead pipeline and texting is not
Source, checked August 2026
Bookkeeping and tax-ready books
Yes. Income tracked as it happens, expenses categorized, tax-ready year-end reportServe
No. Not listed on their pricing or features pages
Source, checked August 2026
Published pricing
Yes. $116, $297 and $597 a month, on the pricing page
Yes. Starter, Builder and Growth are priced on the page; Custom is contact sales
Source, checked August 2026
Contract required
No. Month to month
No. Monthly or annual billing
Source, checked August 2026
Cancel yourself, online
Yes. Settings, then Billing
Not stated. Cancellation is not described on the pricing page
Source, checked August 2026

Teachable details checked August 2026 on Teachable's own pages. Their plans change; if you see something out of date, tell us at hello@colibrios.com. A tier badge on the ColibriOS column shows the lowest plan that includes the feature; every tier contains the one before it.

ColibriOS pricing

  • Serve$116 a month, or two months free billed annually
  • Gather$297 a month, or two months free billed annually
  • Lead$597 a month, or two months free billed annually

Published on the pricing page. 30-day free trial, no credit card, month to month, cancel yourself in Settings.

Teachable pricing

  • Starter$39 a month, or $29 a month billed annually
    7.5% transaction fee, 5 products, 100 active students, 1 admin
  • Builder$89 a month, or $69 a month billed annually
    0% transaction fee, 10 products, 1,000 active students, 1 admin
  • Growth$189 a month, or $139 a month billed annually
    0% transaction fee, 50 products, 5,000 active students, 5 admins, custom domain
  • CustomContact sales
    Flexible products, students and admins

Three published plans from $39 to $189 a month plus a contact-sales Custom tier, a 7.5% transaction fee on Starter and 0% above it (payment processing still applies), product and active-student caps on every plan, a custom domain from Growth up, a 7-day trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Source: Teachable's pricing page, checked August 2026

When Teachable is the better choice

A comparison that says we win every row is not one you should trust. Here is where Teachable genuinely does more.

The cheapest way to sell a first course

Starter is $39 a month, or $29 billed annually, for up to 5 products and 100 students. If you are testing one course with a small audience, that is a third of Serve, even with the 7.5% fee.

Source, checked August 2026

Student apps on every plan

Students get iOS and Android apps on every plan, and a branded app is not an add-on. ColibriOS is a web portal that works in a phone browser, with no native app.

Source, checked August 2026

Global payments and tax handled for you

Teachable Payments collects and remits sales tax and VAT on digital sales across countries. ColibriOS pays through your own Stripe or PayPal, and tax on digital sales is yours to configure there.

Source, checked August 2026

Courses without a ceiling

Build as many courses as you teach, for as many students as enroll; nothing is metered. Modules and lessons hold video, files and text, quizzes mark themselves, lessons drip by date or by progress, and a certificate goes out on completion. Buyers pay through your own Stripe or PayPal and watch in a browser on any device. Courses are on Serve, the first plan, and a course can be sold as an add-on to a package or another course at a special price.

Coaching that starts at the calendar

Discovery calls and 1:1 sessions book from your actual availability, read from Google or Outlook, with intake forms and waivers answered before the first session. Packages track sessions used and can be paid over time. Group programs run on a schedule with a cohort, a capacity and a portal. The person who booked the call, bought the course and joined the program is one record.

The live side, and the list

Workshops, trainings and retreats take registrations with capacity, waitlists, deposits and door check-in. Memberships renew themselves. Behind all of it sits a CRM: notes, tags, consent, a lead pipeline, newsletters and sequences from your own sending domain with opens and clicks reported, and texting from the same contact list.

The books, included

Every course sale, session and ticket is income the day it lands. Connect your bank and expenses are categorized the way an accountant thinks. Profit by offer and a tax-ready year-end report are pages you open. Teachable does not list bookkeeping; ColibriOS includes it on every plan.

Our promisePublished pricing· No demo gate· Month-to-month· Export your data anytime

Questions, answered

Does ColibriOS cap products or students?

No. Courses, packages, programs and memberships are unlimited on every plan, and there is no active-student limit. Teachable lists 5, 10 or 50 products and 100, 1,000 or 5,000 active students by plan.

Is there a transaction fee?

No. Payment runs through your own Stripe or PayPal at the processor's standard rate and ColibriOS adds nothing. Teachable lists a 7.5% fee on its Starter plan and 0% on the plans above it.

Which plan do I need?

Serve, at $116 a month, covers courses, 1:1 booking with packages, your website on your own domain, the CRM, email and text campaigns, and the books. Gather, at $297, adds group programs, workshops and retreats with capacity and waitlists, and recurring memberships.

Is ColibriOS cheaper than Teachable?

Not for a first course to a small audience: Teachable Starter is $39 a month. ColibriOS is the cheaper option once you also pay for a scheduler, an email tool, a CRM and bookkeeping software, and once a product or student cap would force a plan change.

Can I use my own domain from the start?

Yes. Every plan runs your website and every course, booking and event page on your own custom domain. Teachable lists a custom domain from the Growth plan up.

Does it do coaching, not only courses?

Yes, and it starts at the calendar: clients book from your real availability, packages track sessions, and group programs have cohorts and portals. Teachable's coaching product schedules meetings and calls inside a product; ColibriOS runs the whole coaching practice, with the client record shared across everything.

Is there a mobile app for students?

No native app. Students and clients use a web portal that works in any browser on a phone. Teachable includes iOS and Android student apps on every plan; if a native app matters to your students, that is a real point for Teachable.

How do I move my courses and students over?

Export your student list as a CSV and import it with tags and consent. Course video and files upload lesson by lesson into the course builder. Point your domain when the site is ready; nothing has to move in one day.

See it for yourself

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