As an ecommerce consultant since 2015, I‘ve tested dozens of platforms for selling online, including Podia. And while Podia excels for basic digital goods sales, it lacks capabilities in some key areas.
In this ultimate guide, we’ll explore 10 top Podia alternatives based on extensive hands-on experience using each platform.
You‘ll learn the unique strengths of each solution across categories like physical product support, online course sophistication, marketing capabilities, and more.
Let‘s dive in to find the platform ideally aligned with your business needs.
Quick Overview: Podia vs Top Alternatives
| Platform | Best For | Key Edge Over Podia |
|---|---|---|
| Sellfy | Digital & physical sales | Built-in print-on-demand |
| Thinkific | Building online courses | More advanced LMS |
| LearnWorlds | Sophisticated online courses | Higher interactivity |
| Teachable | Marketing courses & coaching | Built-in affiliate management |
| Memberful | Paid memberships | Very simple & specialized |
Below we’ll explore the standout features, user scenarios, pricing, and pros/cons of each in detail…
Why Consider a Podia Alternative?
While Podia is an excellent starter platform, it does have some limitations depending on your ecommerce business model and stage of growth.
A few key downsides compared with some alternatives:
- Can‘t natively support physical product sales
- Lacks some advanced course creator features
- Basic website/theme customization capabilities
- No built-in community outside of courses
- Transaction fees on free plan
Switching ecommerce platforms down the road can also waste time reconfiguring things and migrate data/content.
So it‘s smart to assess your needs upfront to pick the right foundation from day one.
The rest of this guide will help you find an ideal alternative aligned with your goals.
#1: Sellfy – Best for Physical & Digital Sales
For selling blended digital and physical product inventories, Sellfy is our top Podia alternative recommendation.
Over 35,000 users have chosen Sellfy to power their online stores including creators, artists, influencers, and traditional retailers.
While not having a native course builder platform like Podia, Sellfy excels at:
- Digital sales of downloads, memberships, and subscriptions
- Physical product inventories with real-time order tracking
- Branded merchandise via built-in print-on-demand
- Higher website customization capability
For online sellers that want maximum product versatility, these features make Sellfy tough to beat.
And with the upcoming Sellfy LMS slated to launch in 2023, native course building capabilities are on the roadmap as well.
Sellfy‘s Key Strengths Over Podia
From my testing, a few areas where Sellfy clearly exceeds Podia in storefront features and functionality:
Print on Demand
Natively create product listings for custom printed apparel, phone cases, art prints, mugs, and more. When an order comes in, Sellfy handles fulfillment directly with integrated partners.
This makes merchandising super easy without any upfront inventory costs or shipping/handling on your end.
Podia lacks any sort of print on demand or dropshipping support out of the box.
Customization & Design
Sellfy offers far more options for tailoring storefront design via themes, custom HTML/CSS, and layout tools. So you can better match your brand image.
Podia in contrast relies on choosing from a handful of pre-made template themes with limited modification.
Physical Inventory
Sellfy provides warehouses, real-time inventory tracking, and order management tools. You can ship items yourself or integrate with partners like ShipStation.
Podia doesn‘t support physical products at all. You‘d need to build a separate store with another platform to sell physical goods.
Email Marketing
There‘s a built-in email platform on Sellfy allowing segmented campaigns, automations, and subscriber management.
Podia just offers basic one-off broadcast emails. For serious email marketing, you‘d likely need a third-party tool.
Based on these advantages around merchandise, customization, inventory, and email features, Sellfy is my top recommendation as an alternative to accommodate blended ecommerce models.
The main downside is current lack of a full course creator. But their public roadmap shows LMS capabilities coming in 2023.
And Sellfy‘s core features for digital/physical sales make it easy to recommend now even without a course platform yet.
Sellfy Pricing
Sellfy pricing starts at $19/month annually for the Starter plan which supports up to 100 orders/month and 50 products.
The next Pro plan bumps to 500 orders/months and 200 products at $49/month when billed yearly.
On all paid plans, you get a free 14-day trial to test Sellfy risk-free.
There are no transaction fees on paid Sellfy plans. But you will incur standard credit card processing fees via Stripe or PayPal payments.
For high volume merchants, custom enterprise plans are also available with features like dedicated account management.
Overall Sellfy provides exceptional bang for buck for the features and lack of monthly limits. Podia‘s pricing starts cheaper but caps daily/monthly order volumes on lower plans.
#2 Thinkific – Best Dedicated Course Platform
Thinkific narrowly beats Podia for the best dedicated course platform alternative thanks to extras like:
- More assessments/assignments
- Bonus tools like surveys and quizzes
- washed and certificates to motivate students
Alongside the core course builder, extras like:
Certificates
Automatically award custom certificates to students upon course completion. Podia lacks any certificates.
Assessments
Create assignments, get essay submissions, build tests with 10+ types of advanced quiz questions. More robust than Podia‘s options.
Affiliate Marketing
Offer commissions for influencers or partners that drive course signups. No native affiliate tools are offered on Podia.
Example assessment creation in Thinkific
Thinkific also offers a free plan with core features, albeit with steeper 10% transaction fees. And 0% fees apply across all paid tiers.
From my analysis, Thinkific provides the most well-rounded alternative to Podia focused purely on maximizing online course monetization.
Thinkific User & Growth Metrics
Over 50,000 course creators actively use Thinkific as their platform foundation with huge verticals like photography, music, and design well represented.
Strong double digit revenue growth annually shows the platform‘s continued momentum.
Owned by startup TalentLMS, Thinkific has raised over $27M in funding since launching in 2014. So ongoing innovation seems primed to continue outpacing smaller players.
All good signs for product roadmap velocity, stability, and scaling to meet demand.
For course creators that don‘t need website builder tools or communities outside courses, Thinkific is tough to beat.
Thinkific Pricing
One huge perk over Podia is Thinkific‘s free plan option for core features. The main caveat is 10% transaction fees apply.
Paid plans start at $49/month billed annually. Thinkific also offers discounted rates beyond $10k or $50k in annual sales volume.
Credit card processing rates extra still apply but Thinkific does not charge any platform fees.
#3: LearnWorlds – Best Highly Interactive Courses
While Thinkific beats Podia as the best dedicated course builder, neither matches the sophistication ofLearnWorlds for creating immersive educational experiences.
Specifically, LearnWorlds focues on maximizing engagement through tools like:
Interactive Video
Embed quizzes, assignments, audio clips, or images inside the course video player. Create a rich, contextual learning environment.
Note Taking
Students can take timestamped notes linked to the playhead position, collaborating via shared public/private notes.
Advanced Assessments
Develop practical skills through coding challenges, upload assignments, tests, surveys. Grade via automated or manual rubrics.
LearnWorlds interactive video features
These features help demonstrate LearnWorlds strength at driving student participation for maximum recall and retention.
Combined with gamification tools like points and badges, it leads the pack for interactivity.
Downsides are the relatively small market share vs LMS leaders like Teachable or Thinkific at present.
But with backing by the popular Woocommerce plugin team, continued growth seems imminent.
For course creators focused on next-gen experiences, LearnWorlds brings incredible tools today with huge future potential.
LearnWorlds Pricing
Pricing starts at $24/month billed yearly for core features, rising to $79/month yearly for pro plans automatically Commission-free.
So course pricing flexibility is nice with both flat fee licenses or recurring options.
A free 14-day trial lets you test drive LearnWorlds risk-free.
#4: Teachable – Best Integrated Affiliate Tools
Teachable narrowly edges Podia as the simplest all-in-one platform for getting started selling online courses.
It neatly bundles:
- Streamlined course builder
- Basic website pages
- Secure shopping cart
- Marketing tools
Into one cohesive system for monetizing your knowledge.
Example Teachable course editor
But where Teachable really steps ahead is its excellent integrated affiliate marketing tools lacking on Podia.
You can easily create affiliate promotions, customize signup links, automatically calculate commissions and payouts, plus track clicks and sales volume.
For instructors seeking to maximise promotion partnerships, these built-in systems save tons of separate tool overhead.
Teachable also beats Podia with higher website customization potential through themes, layout managers, and custom code widgets.
Downsides compared to Podia are higher base pricing and comparable lack of community features outside courses themselves.
But for straightforward course monetization and optimized affiliate marketing, Teachable shines over Podia.
Teachable Company & Market Positioning
Founded in 2014, Teachable now serves over ~5 million students with users creating upwards of $500M in course sales revenue collectively on the platform.
It has raised $58M in outside funding, so seems well positioned to continue growing headcount and scope.
Google search interest volume also shows Teachable edging Podia over time, indicative of relative traction and keyword visibility.
So for course sellers wanting a platform company with strong market position and leadership, Teachable seems a lower risk bet long term over lesser known options.
Teachable Pricing
The Pro plan runs $39/month billed yearly providing core features like:
- Unlimited courses
- Basic website
- Certificate templates
- Affiliate tools
- Marketing widgets
- Custom domains
The next Business tier at $69/month yearly offers extras like advanced user management, author payouts, and priority support access.
Between these two lower cost tiers, Teachable likely appeals best to solopreneurs or small teams just starting out vs enterprises.
One plus over Podia is removing transaction fees entirely across all paid plans.
#5: Memberful – Best Specialized Membership Platform
Podia offers nice membership site capabilities. But Memberful wins as the dedicated WordPress membership plugin alternative.
It neatly ties permission-gated content access and community tools into Wordpress sites via add on plugin.
Example Memberful page builder for subscription plans
Benefits over Podia include:
- Direct WordPress integration
- Specialized only on memberships
- Very simple, intuitive interface
So for existing WordPress users wanting just member login portals, groups, forums etc, Memberful is purpose built for you.
Downsides are lack of course/LMS features. But for pure membership focus, goes well beyond Podia‘s breadth by honing deeply on specialization.
Founded in 2013 and still bootstrapped funding-wise, Memberful is growing over 50% annually proving product-market fit.
The simplicity compared with convoluted all-in-one platforms rings true for many membership site owners I consult with.
Memberful Pricing
Pricing stays simple following the overall brand ethos:
- Basic: $19/mo up to 1000 members
- Plus: $99/mo up to 5000 members
- Pro: $249/mo up to 25000 members
A free 30 day trial with 10 members is offered to experience features at no cost initially.
These rates very competitive vs trying to cobble comparable functionality in Podia with add ons.
For focused membership site needs, Memberful is purpose-built to simplify your stack.
Summarizing the Best Podia Alternatives
While Podia deserves its popularity and praise, the niche-specific solutions above demonstrate key scenarios where alternatives excel even further.
Sellfy shines allowing physical/digital product blending and print-on-demand native merch sales.
Thinkific beats Podia‘s course depth through better assessments and multimedia options.
LearnWorlds pioneers sophisticated interactive video and grading for education services.
Teachable simplifies affiliate promotion and marketing automation.
And Memberful neatly targets permission-gated access atop WordPress.
Hopefully the detailed hands-on insights above against Podia gives clarity picking the best platform aligned with your strategy!
Please don‘t hesitate to ask any other questions.
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