Podia Pricing 2026: The $840 Mover vs Shaker Break-Even

Podia costs $42 a month on annual billing for Mover, $84 for Shaker, and $150 for Earthquaker — and the only plan that takes a cut of your sales is Mover, at 5% per sale. That single difference decides the whole buying question: once your monthly sales pass $840 on annual billing, Shaker is cheaper than Mover even though its sticker price is double. Below that line, Mover wins. This guide works out the exact math, the subscriber caps that quietly add to the bill, and what Podia’s June 2026 community rebuild changed for course sellers building passive income.

If you just want the answer: start on Mover if you are still proving a course idea and selling under $840 a month, move to Shaker the month you expect to cross $840 consistently, and only look at Earthquaker when you hit a cap — products, spaces, assistants, or email subscribers — because Earthquaker saves you nothing on fees over Shaker. Both charge 0%.

Podia’s three plans, side by side

Podia rebuilt itself around community in June 2026, and it now sells one bundle — courses, digital downloads, memberships, community spaces, a website, and email — on three paid plans. There is no free plan; Podia ended that in October 2024. New accounts get a 14-day free trial with no card required, which is the right way to test the platform before you commit to a year.

Every plan allows unlimited customers, which matters: Podia does not cap your buyers the way some platforms cap students. What it caps is your products, your videos (500 on Mover, 1,000 on Shaker, unlimited on Earthquaker), your community spaces, and your email subscribers. Keep those four caps in mind, because they decide more upgrades than the fee does.

One more cost sits outside this table and applies on every plan: card processing. Stripe or PayPal take roughly 2.9% + $0.30 per card payment in the US on top of whatever Podia charges. Nobody escapes that line, so every “what you keep” number below includes it.

The $840 break-even, worked out properly

Here is the arithmetic, because the marketing pages round it away. On annual billing, Shaker costs $42 a month more than Mover ($84 minus $42). Mover’s 5% fee equals $42 when your monthly sales hit $840 (5% of $840 = $42). Below $840, Mover’s fee is smaller than the price gap, so Mover is cheaper. Above $840, the fee passes the gap, so Shaker is cheaper. On monthly billing the gap is $50 ($99 minus $49), so the break-even moves to $1,000 a month in sales.

Two things jump out. First, the penalty for staying on Mover too long grows fast: at $5,000 a month you hand Podia $208 extra every month, which is $2,496 a year, for nothing. Second, the penalty for upgrading too early is small and capped: if you jump to Shaker at $500 a month, you overpay by $17 a month. When in doubt, the expensive mistake is waiting, not switching early.

The per-sale view makes it concrete. Sell a $50 course on Mover and the money splits three ways: $1.75 to card processing (2.9% + $0.30), $2.50 to Podia’s 5% fee, and $45.75 to you. Sell the same course on Shaker and you keep $48.25. That $2.50 gap looks trivial once. Across 100 sales a month it is $250 — more than the entire Shaker upgrade pays for.

The monthly-billing version of the same table

If you pay month to month, the numbers shift but the logic holds:

Annual billing saves real money — $84 a year on Mover, $180 on Shaker, $348 on Earthquaker — but Podia does not give partial refunds on annual plans. The sensible sequence is: trial, then a few months on monthly billing while your sales find their level, then switch to annual once you know which plan you will stay on. Paying for a year of Shaker on day one, before you have sold a single course, is how creators prepay for a tier they never grow into.

The subscriber-cap trap that costs more than the fee

Here is the cost most Podia pricing guides bury in a footnote, and it is the one that actually surprises people. Podia Email is included on every plan, but only up to a subscriber count: 100 on Mover, 500 on Shaker, 1,000 on Earthquaker. Past that, you pay extra every month, and the ladder climbs like this on annual billing: 500 subscribers costs $8 a month extra, 1,000 costs $14, 2,500 costs $22, 5,000 costs $36, and 10,000 costs $56.

That means a Mover creator with a 1,000-person list pays $42 + $14 = $56 a month before selling anything — and still pays the 5% fee on top. A single successful lead-magnet campaign can push a list from 90 subscribers past the 100-subscriber ceiling in a weekend, and the bill moves with it. This is also why comparing Podia’s email to a standalone email tool matters: many creators already pay for a separate email service, and Podia’s included email only replaces that bill if your list fits inside your plan’s allowance.

The practical fix is unglamorous: clean your list. Every plan counts subscribers, not engaged readers, so a list padded with freebie seekers who never open anything costs you twice — once in Podia’s overage, once in deliverability. Prune cold subscribers before you upgrade plans; sometimes the cheaper move is deleting 200 dead contacts, not paying for a bigger tier.

The other caps bite the same way. Mover’s 50 products sounds generous until you count every mini-course, template pack, webinar replay, and coaching package as a product — creators who sell lots of small items hit 50 faster than course-only sellers do. Shaker’s 150 products and 100 spaces cover most solo businesses for years. Earthquaker’s unlimited everything is for teams and large catalogs, not for saving on fees.

What Shaker adds besides the 0% fee

The fee gets the headlines, but three Shaker features change what you can sell:

• PayPal checkout. Mover sells through Stripe only. Shaker adds PayPal, which matters for buyers who do not use cards and for international buyers who trust PayPal more than an unfamiliar checkout page. If your audience skews older or international, this alone can lift conversion enough to justify the upgrade before the $840 line.
• Affiliates and upsells. Mover has neither. Shaker lets other people sell your course for a commission and lets you offer an upsell at checkout — the two levers that turn a $50 course into a $50 course plus a $19 template pack. For a passive-income business, upsells are where the margin lives, because the buyer is already at the checkout.
• A team seat. Shaker includes one assistant seat; Earthquaker includes unlimited seats. If you hire a virtual assistant to answer student questions or upload content, Mover forces awkward password-sharing workarounds while Shaker gives them their own login.

Mover also shows Podia branding on your site, while paid tiers remove it. That is cosmetic, but for a creator selling a premium-priced course, a third-party badge on the checkout page is a small trust tax you should not ignore.

What the June 2026 community rebuild actually changed

Podia’s June 2026 rebuild put community at the center of the product instead of treating it as a side feature. Spaces — the community areas where members post, comment, and join events — moved from an add-on to the core experience, with courses, downloads, and memberships living alongside them. For a buyer, the question changed from “which course platform?” to “do I want my course and my community in the same place, or am I happy running a course somewhere and a community on Skool or Circle?”

That framing is honest about Podia’s strengths and limits. If your product is a paid community with courses attached, Podia’s all-in-one bundle is genuinely competitive: one bill, one login for members, email included. If your product is a pure cohort course or a community that needs a mobile app, Podia has no branded mobile app, and community-first rivals may fit better. The rebuild made Podia a stronger community platform; it did not make it the best at everything.

Podia against Teachable and Skool

No platform decision happens in a vacuum, so here is the honest comparison at the entry level, using prices checked in October 2026:

Teachable is cheaper to start and more expensive per sale — its 7.5% fee overtakes its price advantage fast, and its Starter caps (5 products, 100 students) are tighter than Podia’s. Skool’s $9 Hobby plan looks like a bargain until the 10% fee lands on every sale; it only makes sense if your product truly is the community, not the course. Podia sits in the middle: a moderate monthly price, a moderate fee, and the most complete bundle at the entry tier, with email included where Teachable includes none.

One tax note, because it surprises US sellers with international buyers: Teachable’s own comparison notes that Podia calculates tax but leaves filing and remittance to the creator, while Teachable’s payment system remits VAT and GST across 45+ countries automatically. If a large share of your buyers sits outside the US, that difference is worth pricing into your decision — a cheaper platform fee means little if you owe a tax-filing headache every quarter.

The passive-income reality check

Courses get filed under passive income, and Podia’s pricing rewards sellers who treat them that way — but let me be straight about what “passive” means here. A course earns while you sleep only after you built it, launched it, and found buyers. Podia’s monthly bill arrives whether you sell or not, which is exactly why the break-even math matters more than the feature list. A $42 Mover plan with zero sales is a $504 annual subscription to an idea you have not validated. The trial plus monthly billing exists for a reason: prove ten sales before you commit to a year.

Where Podia genuinely helps the passive-income case is consolidation. A typical creator stack — course host, email tool, community tool, website — easily runs $100 to $200 a month across four vendors. Podia replaces all four for $42 to $84, and the community rebuild means the members who stick around for the community keep buying the next course without a new launch. Retention is the quiet engine of course income: a buyer who stays in your community for a year is worth several one-off buyers, and that is the bet Podia’s bundle makes.

A decision framework you can use today

Pick Mover if: you are launching your first course, your list is under 100, you sell fewer than 50 products, and your monthly sales are under $840. Use the trial, then monthly billing, and set a calendar reminder to recheck the math when sales cross $500 a month.

Pick Shaker if: your sales pass $840 a month, you need PayPal, affiliates, or upsells, your list is between 100 and 500, or you are hiring your first assistant. This is the right plan for most working course businesses, and it is where the fee savings start compounding.

Pick Earthquaker if: you hit a cap — more than 150 products, more than 100 spaces, more than 1,000 email subscribers, or a team bigger than one assistant. Do not pick it to save on fees; there are none left to save over Shaker.

Pick something else if: you need a branded mobile app, you sell primarily through a community that lives on another platform, or your buyers are mostly international and you want tax remittance handled for you. Those are real reasons to look elsewhere, and no pricing table fixes them.

Mistakes that cost Podia sellers real money

First, paying annually before validating. The annual discount is real, but it locks you in, and Podia does not do partial refunds. Second, forgetting card processing in the margin math — your true keep on a $50 Mover sale is $45.75, not $47.50, and across hundreds of sales that $1.75 per order adds up to a real number. Third, letting the email list grow past your cap without pruning or budgeting for the overage. Fourth, staying on Mover past $840 a month out of inertia; at $2,000 a month that inertia costs $58 a month, every month, for nothing. Fifth, building a 60-product catalog of tiny items on Mover and discovering the 50-product cap mid-launch — count your products before you commit, including the freebies.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does Podia cost per month in 2026?

Mover costs $49 a month billed monthly or $42 a month billed annually ($504 a year). Shaker costs $99 monthly or $84 annually ($1,008 a year). Earthquaker costs $179 monthly or $150 annually ($1,800 a year). Mover adds a 5% fee per sale; Shaker and Earthquaker charge no platform fee. Card processing of about 2.9% + $0.30 applies on every plan.

At what sales level should I upgrade from Mover to Shaker?

On annual billing, Shaker becomes cheaper at $840 a month in sales, because 5% of $840 equals the $42 monthly price gap. On monthly billing, the break-even is $1,000 a month. Feature needs — PayPal, affiliates, upsells, or a bigger email allowance — can justify upgrading earlier.

Does Podia have a free plan?

No. Podia removed its free plan in October 2024. All three plans are paid, but new accounts get a 14-day free trial with full access and no credit card required.

What happens when I pass my email subscriber limit?

You pay extra each month on top of your plan. On annual billing, 500 subscribers costs $8 extra, 1,000 costs $14, 2,500 costs $22, and 5,000 costs $36. Pruning inactive subscribers can bring you back under your plan’s included allowance.

Is Podia better than Teachable for a first course?

For most first-time sellers, Podia’s bundle is the easier start: courses, downloads, community, website, and email in one place, with 50 products and unlimited customers on Mover. Teachable’s Starter is cheaper per month ($29 annual) but charges a higher 7.5% fee and caps you at 5 products and 100 students. If you plan to sell mostly internationally and want tax remittance handled, Teachable’s payment system has an edge worth weighing.

Can I sell memberships and digital downloads on Podia, not just courses?

Yes. Every plan supports courses, digital downloads, memberships, and community spaces. That is the core of Podia’s pitch after the June 2026 rebuild: one platform for the course, the community that keeps members around, and the email that sells the next product.

Podia’s pricing is refreshingly simple once you see past the headline numbers: one fee tier, three price points, and caps that matter more than most sellers expect. Run your own sales number through the $840 test, count your products and subscribers honestly, and the right plan usually picks itself. Prices change, so check Podia’s pricing page before you buy — but the break-even method in this guide works no matter what the numbers move to.

[Internal links: Payhip’s free plan charges its own 5% fee — see how its break-even compares in our Payhip pricing guide. If you sell mostly downloads rather than courses, Sellfy’s zero-fee cap is a useful contrast. And for the membership side of a Podia business, our subscription-fee comparison prices what $100 a month in memberships keeps across platforms.]

[External sources: Podia’s plan details and October 2026 price checks are summarized in the Learning Revolution Podia review and the Heartbeat Podia pricing comparison.]