Course Platform Costs UK: The True Monthly Cost (Calculator)

By Ellis Grant, EdTechKit Editorial

Documentation checked 14 September 2026. Based on supplier documentation; calculator examples are hypothetical, not test results.

Ask anyone what their course platform costs and they'll usually quote you one number: the monthly plan price. £49. £99. Whatever it says on the pricing page.

But that number is rarely what leaves their bank account.

Course platform costs in the UK pile up in layers. The subscription. Then the payment processor's cut. Then a platform fee on top. Then the add-ons you didn't realise you'd need. Then the one-off work to get set up. Then VAT. And sitting quietly in the background, the cost of ever leaving.

Here's a quick example. Take a £49 plan, add £20 of required tools, a 2% platform fee and 1.5% card processing on £1,000 of monthly sales, plus 20p on each of 20 payments. That £49 plan now costs £108 a month. More than double.

This guide shows you how to see every layer, compare platforms fairly, and avoid the most common money mistakes UK course businesses make. There's a free calculator below to run your own numbers.

Prefer to jump straight in? Our standalone course platform cost calculator lets you model your fees, add-ons and sales volume.

Course platform cost calculator

Compare two or three setups against the same requirements, sales assumptions and time period. The results separate cash paid from costs attributed to the comparison period. Blank values are not treated as zero.

Limits: This is a budgeting model, not accounting, tax or legal advice. It uses aligned monthly buckets rather than day-level invoice allocation. It does not model tiered, capped or minimum fees. Enter those as manual costs or keep the affected option incomplete. Reverse-charge fields only record adviser-confirmed amounts. They do not decide whether the reverse charge applies.

Comparison results

Enter the shared scenario and option costs, then calculate.

Step One: Cross Off Platforms That Can't Do the Job (Before You Look at Price)

This sounds obvious. Almost nobody does it properly.

A cheap plan is worthless if it can't deliver something your business depends on. And the danger is that you only find out after you've paid, built and launched.

So before you enter a single price, write down what the platform must do. For example:

deliver the number and type of courses you sell
handle quizzes, certificates and progress tracking, if those matter
give learners, tutors and admins the right level of access
support live teaching, cohorts or evergreen delivery
provide the community spaces and controls you need
cope with your email list size and growth
take the payment methods and instalments your customers use
let you export your records if you ever move

Then give each platform one of three labels:

Suitable: every must-have has current evidence behind it (even if you haven't tried it hands-on yet).
Conditional: at least one must-have isn't confirmed.
Unsuitable: a must-have fails.

Here's the rule that saves people money: never call a "conditional" option the cheapest. The missing piece might force a pricier plan or an extra tool, and then it isn't cheapest any more.

Our course platform guides help you define those requirements. If community is central, the community platform guides cover that side.

Find the Cheapest Plan That Actually Qualifies

For each platform, record the lowest plan that meets every must-have. Note:

the plan name and price
monthly or annual billing
the currency
whether tax is included in the price shown
relevant limits (contacts, products, staff)
the date you checked

Then add any workaround. If a plan needs a separate certificate tool to meet your needs, compare "plan plus certificate tool" against another platform where certificates are included.

Plan names are not a reliable guide. "Pro" on one platform might be the entry tier on another. Podia's official pricing page, checked 14 September 2026, shows why: its plans differ in email allowances and in whether a platform transaction fee applies, while card processing is charged separately. That's a documentation observation, not a recommendation.

"Billed Annually" Is the Phrase That Catches People Out

Here's a trap that sits in plain sight.

"£50 a month, billed annually" is not a £50 monthly payment. It's £600, taken in one go, on day one.

So if you're planning for the next six months, you need to see two figures:

Cash out: £600 leaves your account during those six months.
Cost of the service used: £300, because you've used six of the twelve months.

The second number doesn't cancel the first. They answer different questions. Cash tells you whether you can afford it this month. Service cost helps you compare platforms fairly over the same period.

The currency angle for UK buyers

Many popular platforms bill in US dollars. That adds one more wrinkle.

For payments you've already made, use the actual sterling amount on your bank statement.
For future payments, note the exchange rate you're assuming, the date, and any card markup. A forecast rate is a guess, not a fact.

Annual billing in dollars has a hidden benefit: you convert once, so your sterling cost is fixed for the year. Monthly billing in dollars can move a little each month with the exchange rate.

Payment Fees: Why the Number of Payments Matters as Much as the Amount

This is the insight most cost guides miss entirely.

Card fees usually have two parts: a percentage of the money, and a fixed amount per payment. So the cost depends on how much your customers pay and how many separate payments they make.

Take £5,000 of monthly sales at 1.5% plus 20p:

If it comes from 10 big payments: £75 plus £2 = £77.
If it comes from 100 smaller payments: £75 plus £20 = £95.

Same revenue. £18 a month different. Over a year, that's £216, just from how your pricing is structured.

That's why instalment plans, monthly memberships and failed-payment retries all nudge your fees up, even when your revenue stays the same.

The two formulas you need

Processor fee = sales that carry the fee × percentage rate, plus number of successful payments × fixed fee.

Platform fee = whatever the platform's terms say it's charged on × platform percentage, plus any fixed platform fee.

Don't assume both percentages apply to the same amount unless the terms say so.

Stripe's public UK pricing page currently lists 1.5% + 20p for standard UK cards, but it also lists other card types and offers custom pricing. Use the rate that actually applies to your platform and account, not a number copied from somewhere.

Refunds don't give you the fees back

When you refund a customer, the money you return isn't a "software cost". But you may lose the processing fee from the original sale.

Stripe's standard pricing FAQ says processing, Connect and currency conversion fees from the original transaction are not returned. Custom pricing may differ. Check your own agreement.

A Worked Example: How £120 a Month Became £5,020 a Year

This is a made-up example, not a real supplier or customer. The inputs are assumptions. The outputs are just arithmetic.

Hypothetical monthly assumptions, tax not modelled
Input	Assumption
Base software	£120
Required add-ons	£30
Monthly sales carrying fees	£5,000
Successful payments	50
Processor rate	1.5% + 20p per payment
Platform fee	2% of the same £5,000

Now the sums:

Processor fees: (£5,000 × 1.5%) + (50 × 20p) = £75 + £10 = £85 a month.
Platform fees: £5,000 × 2% = £100 a month.
Monthly running cost: £120 + £30 + £85 + £100 = £335.
Twelve months: £335 × 12 = £4,020.

Then add £600 of outside setup help and £400 for the value of your own team's time:

Cash including setup: £4,620.
Full economic cost: £5,020.

That advertised £120 plan is about a third of what this business actually spends.

Note that £5,020 isn't a "total UK cost". Tax, refunds, disputes, currency, exit costs and other unknowns are left out. And the £400 of internal time is an economic cost, not money paid to a supplier.

Look at year two, and the picture changes

Here's a useful trick. Run the same comparison over 24 months, not just 12.

In year one, our example averages about £418 a month (£5,020 divided by 12). Over two years, the one-off setup costs are spread thinner: £8,040 of running costs plus £1,000 of setup comes to £9,040, or about £377 a month.

Why does this matter? Because a platform with high setup costs but lower running costs can look worse in year one and better by year two. If you plan to stay a while, compare over the period you'll actually stay.

Count Every Tool You'll Still Need

List one row for each job the whole setup needs, not one row per platform. Common extras include:

email marketing at your list size
community software with enough members and spaces
automation or integration tools
video hosting or live teaching software
assessment, certificate or reporting tools
accounting or invoicing connections

An included tool only costs nothing extra if it actually does the job at your size. And if you need to keep an old tool running during a move, count that overlap even if the new platform has something similar.

VAT: What You Pay Isn't Always What You Can Claim Back

Don't add a blanket VAT percentage to every line. And don't assume that being VAT-registered means you can reclaim all of it.

For each supplier, record:

the invoice currency
whether the price includes tax
the amount actually charged
the invoice
how your accountant says it's treated

HMRC says a VAT-registered business can reclaim VAT on purchases used for business, subject to the rules. Business and personal use must be split, claims need proper records and valid VAT invoices, and a business making both taxable and exempt supplies is partly exempt. Course and training businesses can be in very different positions.

Services from a supplier outside the UK may involve the reverse charge. HMRC explains this depends on things like where the supply takes place, where each party belongs, the type of service and VAT status.

So keep three views separate:

Cash paid: what leaves your account, including tax.
Net cash: cash paid, adjusted for tax you've confirmed you'll recover.
Economic cost: the real cost including any tax you can't recover.

If you're not sure, show the known amount before tax and hold off on the final figure. Ask your accountant.

"Free Migration" Rarely Means Free

Separate three kinds of setup cost:

Money paid out: contractors, imports, configuration, training, overlap subscriptions.
Your team's time: hours times a value you choose. It's an economic cost, not cash, unless it means paying someone extra.
Unknown risk: work you can't estimate yet, like rebuilding subscriptions or checking learner histories.

A supplier's "free migration" might only cover named items up to a limit. Podia's switching page, for example, says its team moves listed products and people within plan limits, but active paying subscriptions can't be moved and recurring plans must be set up again. That tells you what's included. It doesn't tell you how much work your own move will take.

Our platform migration guides list the questions to ask first.

The Cost of Leaving Starts the Day You Join

Run a separate "exit" scenario. Include:

future transfer work
overlap months on two platforms
any non-cancellable commitments
confirmed cancellation or export charges

Also list risks you can't put a number on yet: members needing to re-enter card details, progress records that won't export, a possible gap in learner access.

Two mistakes to avoid:

An annual plan you've already paid for isn't a new cost when you leave. Don't count it twice.
Possible lost sales aren't a certain software cost. If you model them, label them clearly and keep them separate.

Test Three Scenarios, Because Your "Normal Month" Doesn't Exist

One forecast hides the moment a plan stops being good value. Run at least three:

Low: fewer sales, fewer payments, slower list growth.
Expected: your realistic forecast.
High: more sales, more payments, and any plan or add-on jump that comes with it.

Change sales and payment count separately. And watch the limits: contacts, members, storage, admin seats. Costs often jump at a threshold rather than rising smoothly. You might find a plan is perfect at your expected level and expensive at your high one.

Unknown Is Not the Same as Zero

Every figure in your comparison should carry one of four labels:

Verified: a dated official source supports it.
Calculated: worked out from inputs you've named.
Assumed: your forecast or a placeholder.
Unknown: missing, unclear or still to confirm.

Zero only goes in when a cost is genuinely included, confirmed as free, or a labelled assumption.

Your result can then honestly say one of three things:

Complete: everything material is resolved for this scenario.
Known costs only: the total leaves out visible unknowns.
Blocked: something essential stops a fair comparison.

Your Ten-Step Course Platform Cost Comparison

List your must-haves, capacities and the tests you'll run.
Pick at least two options and find the lowest qualifying plan on each.
Choose one comparison period and one sales forecast for all options.
Note when subscription cash leaves and what service it covers.
Add processor and platform fees.
Add email, community, automation, video and teaching tools, without double-counting.
Separate setup cash, team time and overlap costs.
Note VAT and reverse-charge questions without guessing.
Run low, expected and high scenarios.
Send open questions to suppliers, and tax questions to your accountant, before you commit.

Course Platform Costs UK: Quick Answers

How much does a course platform cost in the UK?

Entry plans on the platforms we cover range from USD 9 a month (Skool Hobby) to USD 179 (Kajabi Basic), mostly billed in US dollars. But the true cost includes card processing, any platform fee, extra tools, setup work and VAT. In our hypothetical example, a £120 plan cost £5,020 over a year.

What hidden costs do course platforms have?

The common ones are platform transaction fees, card processing (often a percentage plus a fixed amount per payment), email or community add-ons, annual prepayments, setup work, VAT and the cost of migrating later.

Is annual billing cheaper for course platforms?

Usually, yes, but you pay the year upfront. Compare the cash you need now as well as the cost per month of service.

Why does the number of payments affect my fees?

Most card fees include a fixed amount per payment. The same revenue split into more payments costs more in fees.

Can I reclaim VAT on my course platform subscription?

It depends on your VAT registration and circumstances. HMRC's rules on business use, invoices and partial exemption apply. Ask your accountant.

Related Guides

UK buyer guides. More UK software-buying guidance.
how we compare software. The principles behind our comparisons.
Kajabi pricing in the UK. A real example of how payment routes change the cheapest plan.

Sources

Podia pricing (checked 14 September 2026): https://www.podia.com/pricing
Switch to Podia (checked 14 September 2026): https://www.podia.com/switch
Stripe UK pricing (checked 14 September 2026): https://stripe.com/gb/pricing
HMRC, reclaiming VAT on business expenses (checked 14 September 2026): https://www.gov.uk/charge-reclaim-record-vat/reclaim-vat-business-expenses
HMRC VAT Notice 741A, place of supply of services (checked 14 September 2026): https://www.gov.uk/guidance/vat-place-of-supply-of-services-notice-741a

This is a budgeting guide, not accounting, tax or legal advice.

Course Platform Costs in the UK: Why Your £49 Plan Could Really Cost £108 a Month