Not sure if Podia ticks all the right boxes? Here are the best Podia alternatives on the market this year!
Podia is a powerful all-in-one digital ecommerce tool and LMS solution—but it isn’t the best option for everyone.
You can’t use it to sell physical products. And it lacks some key features that course creators and online sellers might need, like SCORM course compliance, advanced marketing features, and varied assessment options.
In this post, we’re going to reveal our top picks for the best Podia alternatives and competitors available.
And we’ll explore each competitor platform’s key features, pros and cons, and pricing in-depth to help you make an informed decision.
The best Podia alternatives – summary
TL;DR:
Sellfy is the best Podia alternative for most users. It’s incredibly easy to use. While it doesn’t include an LMS, it allows you to sell digital products, physical products, and subscriptions. You can also sell print-on-demand merchandise without the need to integrate a third-party platform.
Thinkific is the best option for those who primarily want to sell courses. The LMS is excellent, and 0% transaction fees on all plans. You can also create communities using the platform.
#1 – Sellfy
Sellfy is our top pick for the overall best Podia alternative. Like Podia, you can use it to build a store front and sell all sorts of digital products and subscriptions. And it’s super easy to use.
Sellfy supports pretty much every type of digital product. You can sell downloadable files like ebooks, videos, audio, music, etc., as well as recurring subscriptions.
But on top of that, you can also use Sellfy to sell physical inventory. This is something you can’t really do on Podia due to its lack of inventory management, shipping, and fulfillment features.
And here’s what’s really cool about Sellfy: it has a built-in print-on-demand system that lets you sell custom merch printed with your own designs, without paying for any stock upfront.
All you have to do is upload designs to products in Sellfy’s catalog and add them to your Sellfy store at whatever price you want to sell them for. Then when you make a sale, Sellfy prints and ships the order directly to your customer for you, and bills you for the base cost. The difference between your retail price and the base cost is your profit margins.
Cool, huh? It’s especially useful if you’re an influencer or content creator with a large following and want to sell your own branded merch alongside your digital products.
Sellfy also comes with all the other features you’d want from a hosted selling platform, like built-in marketing tools, upsells, an online shopping cart, flawless checkout, embeddable buy buttons, Stripe & Paypal integration, and so on.
The downside? There’s no integrated LMS on Sellfy—yet. So right now, you can’t use Sellfy to build and sell online courses like you can with Podia. And you can’t create one-click community spaces like with Podia either. As such, it’s probably not the best choice for course creators and community leaders.
Key features
- Sell digital and physical products
- Print on demand
- Subscriptions
- Store editor
- Themes
- Coupons
- Email marketing
- Upsells
- Cart abandonment
- SSL certificate
- PayPal/Stripe integration
- Advanced VAT & tax setting
Pros and cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Easy to use | No integrated LMS (online course creation) |
| Creator-focused platform | Sales revenue caps ($10k – $200k limit, depending on the plan) |
| Excellent POD feature | No community tool |
| Sell all types of products | |
| Excellent selection of store templates |
Pricing
Paid plans start at $19/month when billed every two years. You can get started with a free trial.
Read our Sellfy review.
#2 – Thinkific
Thinkific is a dedicated online course platform. It boasts a more sophisticated learning management system (LMS) and advanced features to help you create and sell knowledge products.
Unlike Podia, Thinkific doesn’t aim to be an all-in-one digital ecommerce solution. It’s designed specifically for selling online courses and is laser-focused on that specific use case.
As such, it comes with a bunch of course features that you don’t get on Podia, like live lessons and webinars, more assessment options (quizzes, surveys, exams, etc.), and bulk imports.
On top of the core drag-and-drop course builder, you get a wide array of expert-designed course templates so you don’t have to start from scratch. And flexible delivery options mean you can release all types of courses: scheduled, self-paced, drip, and cohort.
Thinkific also has excellent reward features; you can send students completion certificates and other rewards (something you can’t do on Podia).
Aside from the LMS features, Thinkific also comes with everything else you need to create your website and start selling: customizable website themes, e-commerce features, marketing tools, bookkeeping tools, etc.
And like Podia, Thinkific has its own Communities feature. You can use it to create flexible community spaces around your course for a more collaborative learning experience. Students can make their own learner profiles and discuss what they’ve learned with others through threads and reactions.
Key features
- Live events
- Flexible learning communities
- App store
- Customizable website themes
- Course templates
- Drag-and-drop builder
- Groups
- App Store
- E-commerce features
- Quizzes and surveys
- Affiliate marketing
- Subscriptions
Pros and cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Excellent LMS | Not as good for other types of digital products |
| Great themes and templates | Can’t sell physical products |
| Advanced online course features | Paid plans are pricey |
| Powerful communities tool |
Pricing
Paid plans with higher limits and additional benefits start from $54/month. Annual discounts available.
Read our Thinkific review.
#3 – Payhip
Payhip is another all-in-one platform that lets you sell pretty much any type of product you can think of: digital downloads, coaching, memberships, online courses, physical inventory… you name it.
One of the best things about Payhip is its simplicity. Everything from the user interface to the pricing plans is designed to be as simple as possible.
No matter what plan you choose, you get all the features, unlimited products, and unlimited revenue. The only difference between them is how much you pay in transaction fees.
In terms of features, Payhip has most of the same stuff you get with Podia, like an online course builder, site builder, payments, etc. But it also comes with inventory management tools so you can sell physical products too.
Key features
- Digital downloads
- Online courses
- Coaching