MLA vs Teachable: Creating Your Course With AI vs Hosting a Course You've Made
Last updated: October 25, 2026
Both tools host and sell online courses. Mini Lessons Academy is a better match if you haven't built the course yet and want AI to create it from your expertise or documents, with landing pages, checkout, and email campaigns included. Teachable is a better match if your course is already made and you want a long-established place to host and sell it, with checkout that handles sales tax and VAT, and a low entry price on annual billing.
Mini Lessons Academy and Teachable both host courses, enroll students, and take payments. The difference is how much of the course the tool creates for you.
Mini Lessons Academy is an AI course creator that turns your expertise, documents, or videos into a finished online course, then hosts it and sells it for you with Stripe checkout built in. Teachable is a course hosting and selling platform. Its AI can turn a short course description into an outline and "sample content," which Teachable presents as a way to get started.
This page uses each company's own website and help docs, as of October 23, 2026. Mini Lessons Academy publishes this page, so we've stuck to facts each company states about itself.
Three questions to answer first
Teachable: a proven place to host and sell your course
Teachable is a long-established course platform for creators who want reliable hosting, checkout, and student management. It also sells coaching, memberships, and digital downloads.
Where Teachable is strongest
Teachable has hosted and sold courses for many years, and its checkout handles sales tax and VAT for you.
Starter is $29/mo billed annually ($39/mo monthly).
when you use Teachable Payments.
(35+), which helps if your buyers are in different countries.
and AI subtitles for your existing lessons.
Mini Lessons Academy: create the course with AI, then sell it
Mini Lessons Academy is built for coaches, consultants, and subject matter experts who have the knowledge, and often the documents, but not a finished course. You can start from an idea, or upload PDFs, docs, slides, or a YouTube link. MLA builds a full course in about 90 seconds to 3 minutes. MLA has 100,000+ courses created and an 83%+ completion rate.
Where MLA is strongest
MLA writes complete lessons, quizzes, and exams from your PDFs, docs, slides, or a YouTube link. Teachable's AI works from a text description and produces sample content to build on.
A "keep my document" import option keeps your text as written instead of rewriting it.
MLA includes 10 to 100 email campaigns a month by plan. Teachable has no built-in email marketing and points to integrations instead.
Unlimited courses, ebooks, students, and landing pages on every plan. Teachable allows 5, 10, or 50 products by plan.
Ebooks, audiobooks with 8 to 25 studio voices by plan or your own cloned voice (Founders and up), picture books, lead magnets, and AI video, with monthly allowances by plan.
(Founders and up) for corporate or school clients who use an LMS (learning management system).
Feature comparison: MLA vs Teachable
| Outcome | Teachable | Mini Lessons Academy |
|---|---|---|
| Built mainly for | Hosting and selling a course you've made | Creating a course with AI, then selling it |
| Start from your own files | No; the AI works from a text description | Yes: PDFs, docs, slides, YouTube link |
| What the AI builds | Outline, sample lesson content, sales page; AI quizzes and summaries | Full course: lessons, quizzes, exams with AI grading, speaker scripts |
| Ebooks and audiobooks | Not mentioned on site | ✓ |
| AI video | AI subtitles and translations for your videos | Slideshow, presenter, cinematic (allowance by plan) |
| Sell courses | Yes, Teachable Payments (handles sales tax and VAT) | Yes, Stripe |
| Platform fee per sale | 7.5% on Starter; 0% on Builder and up with Teachable Payments | 5% / 2% / 0% by plan |
| Products | 5 / 10 / 50 by plan | Unlimited |
| Upsells, order bumps, coupons | ✓ | Coupons, bundles, and subscription tiers; no upsells or order bumps |
| Email marketing | Not built in; uses integrations | Email campaigns, 10 to 100 a month by plan |
| Certificates | Growth plan | Yes, with exams, every plan |
| SCORM export | No native SCORM support, per Teachable's docs | Yes, Founders and up |
| Free plan or trial | No free plan. 7-day free trial | No free plan. 7-day free trial on monthly plans; annual plans have no trial |
Pricing side by side
USD list prices, October 23, 2026. Teachable was running a promotion when checked, so check its site for current offers.
| Mini Lessons Academy | Price | Teachable | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hustlers | $35/mo or $300/yr, 5% fee | Starter | $39/mo, or $29/mo billed annually, 7.5% fee |
| Founders | $75/mo or $660/yr, 2% fee | Builder | $89/mo, or $69/mo billed annually, 0% fee* |
| Legends | $150/mo or $1,300/yr, 0% fee | Growth | $189/mo, or $139/mo billed annually, 0% fee* |
| Enterprise | Custom |
*With Teachable Payments.
What's limited by plan:
- MLA: document uploads (35 / 100 / 300), videos, and audiobooks, plus a per-sale fee on Hustlers and Founders. Courses and students are unlimited.
- Teachable: products (5 / 10 / 50), certificates (Growth), and a 7.5% fee on Starter.
How to compare total cost: at $1,000 a month in sales, MLA Hustlers costs $35 plus a $50 fee, and Teachable Starter costs $39 plus a $75 fee (monthly billing). On the next plan up, both fees drop: MLA Founders charges 2%, and Teachable Builder charges 0% with Teachable Payments. Payment processing fees apply on both.
Choose MLA if… / Choose Teachable if…
- ✓Your course is already made, and you mainly need hosting and checkout
- ✓You sell to buyers in many countries and want sales tax and VAT handled
- ✓You want upsells, order bumps, and coupons at checkout
- ✓You'd rather use your own email tool through an integration
- ✓You want a low annual price for a small catalog
Examples: a video creator moving a finished course to a dedicated platform; a creator selling one flagship course with coaching add-ons.
- ✓You have expertise or documents but no finished course yet
- ✓You want the course built from your own material, in your own words
- ✓You want email campaigns without adding another tool
- ✓You'd like an ebook, audiobook, or lead magnet from the same content
- ✓You may need SCORM for corporate or school clients
Examples: a therapist turning a client handout series into a self-paced course; a consultant packaging a workshop into a course and companion ebook.
Using both together
Some creators use MLA to build the course, ebook, or lead magnet from their material, then export it to host elsewhere. MLA exports PDF and DOCX on every plan, and SCORM on Founders and up. You can also embed a course page on another site with MLA's embed code (an iframe). Upload the files to Teachable lessons.
Which is right for you?
Mini Lessons Academy suits you if the course doesn't exist yet. Its AI builds it from your material, then hosts and sells it with marketing included.
Teachable suits you if the course is already made and you want an established place to host and sell it, with strong checkout features.
The question is whether you need help creating the course or only hosting it.
Frequently asked questions
Is Mini Lessons Academy a good Teachable alternative?
Yes, if you want AI to create the course. MLA builds full lessons, quizzes, and exams from your documents, and includes landing pages, Stripe checkout, and email campaigns. If your course is already finished and you want mature checkout features like order bumps and local payment methods, Teachable is a strong choice.
Can Teachable create a course with AI?
Partly. Teachable's "Generate with AI" turns a course description of up to 1,000 characters into sections, lessons, sample content, and a sales page. Teachable describes this as a starting point. It doesn't build from uploaded files.
Which costs less, Teachable or MLA?
On monthly billing, MLA Hustlers is $35/mo with a 5% fee, and Teachable Starter is $39/mo with a 7.5% fee. On annual billing, Teachable Starter is $29/mo and MLA Hustlers is $300/yr (about $25/mo). Teachable's Builder plan and up charge 0% with Teachable Payments; MLA's Legends plan charges 0%.
Does either have a free plan?
No. Teachable has a 7-day free trial. MLA has a 7-day free trial on monthly plans (annual plans have no trial) and a 30-day money-back guarantee on every plan.
Does Teachable include email marketing?
Teachable doesn't include built-in email marketing; it points to integrations. MLA includes 10 to 100 email campaigns a month, depending on plan.
Do students finish courses built with Mini Lessons Academy?
Mini Lessons Academy reports an 83%+ completion rate across 100,000+ courses created. Short lessons, built-in quizzes, and a clear outcome for each module are part of how MLA structures every course.
Sources
Checked October 23, 2026, unless marked (Oct 25).
- Teachable pricing: https://www.teachable.com/pricing
- Teachable AI curriculum generator: https://teachable.com/ai-curriculum-generator
- Teachable help: https://support.teachable.com/en/articles/11682451-create-and-set-up-your-course
- Mini Lessons Academy pricing (Oct 25): https://minilessonsacademy.com/pricing-plans-cb
- Mini Lessons Academy FAQ: https://minilessonsacademy.com/faq