Sublead vs Teachable: where to publish the lead magnet for your course
Teachable is a platform for hosting and selling online courses, with paid plans from $39 a month and no free plan. Sublead is a free tool for the step before the sale: you write a lead magnet, publish it, and share one link that collects email addresses. Sublead does not replace Teachable, because it hosts no course and takes no payment. It publishes the freebie whose button leads to your Teachable sales page.
A course is easier to sell to people who have already read something of yours: a checklist, a short guide, the first lesson written out. That free piece is the lead magnet. Its job is not the course's job: it has to open quickly and leave you with an email address.
Teachable can host that freebie as a product priced at Free. Its help center says the option works well for lead magnets and mini-courses. The reader then creates an account in your school to get in. Sublead takes another route: the freebie is a page, and the reader leaves a first name and an email, nothing more. The guide on how to create a lead magnet explains the format.
Choose Sublead if
- Your course is not finished, and you want a list of interested people before it opens.
- You want readers to get the freebie with a first name and an email, without creating an account and a password.
- You give away several resources and would not spend one of your plan's products on each.
- You want to see which topic gets sign-ups before you record a course about it.
Choose Teachable if
- You have a course, coaching or a membership to sell and need hosting, checkout and student accounts.
- Your freebie is a mini-course with video lessons, and you want it in the same school as the paid one.
- You want free students to already have an account on the day they buy.
Sublead vs Teachable, point by point
Teachable's column comes from its own website, read on November 13, 2026. If something has changed since, write to info@sublead.io and we will correct it.
Sublead and Teachable: the prices
Sublead
- Free · $0Unlimited lead magnets and contacts, opt-in pages, statistics, integrations. No card, no time limit.
- Pro · $29/month, or $24/month billed yearlyOptional: your own domain, pages without the Sublead badge, email sequences.
Teachable
- Starter · $39/month$29/month billed yearly. 5 products, 1 admin, a 7.5% transaction fee on sales.
- Builder · $89/month$69/month billed yearly. 10 products, 0% transaction fee with Teachable Payments (card processing fees still apply).
- Growth · $189/month$139/month billed yearly. 50 products, 5 admins, Teachable branding removable.
Teachable has no free plan. Each plan starts with a 7-day free trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee, then Starter costs $39 a month ($29 a month billed yearly) for 5 products, with a 7.5% transaction fee on sales. Builder, at $89 a month, includes 10 products and a 0% transaction fee when you use Teachable Payments. Growth, at $189 a month, goes to 50 products and lets you remove Teachable branding.
A free mini-course or download is created as a product, like the paid course next to it. On Starter, five freebies would be the whole plan. Sublead does not count lead magnets or contacts and asks for no card. Its optional Pro plan is $29 a month, and the pricing page lists what it adds. A course creator who uses both pays Teachable for the course and nothing more for the lead magnets.
The same lead magnet, made in each
With Sublead
- 1Write the freebie in Sublead's editor: text, images, a video from YouTube, Vimeo or Loom.
- 2Press Publish. The opt-in page is made from the document.
- 3Set the button at the end to point to your Teachable sales page, then share the link.
With Teachable
- 1Create a product in your school: a course or a digital download.
- 2Add the content: lessons, or the file to download.
- 3Add a pricing plan and choose Free.
- 4Edit the product's sales page, publish it and share its address. Each reader creates an account to get in.
What you need Teachable for
You need Teachable to sell and deliver the course, which Sublead does not do. Lessons, student accounts, checkout, coaching, memberships and digital downloads all sit in one school. Its pricing page lists built-in email marketing, and its site names integrations with Mailchimp, Kit and Zapier.
Its Free pricing option also works for a lead magnet. Students enroll for free, skip the checkout page and go straight to account creation. For a mini-course with several video lessons, a school is the right container: progress is tracked, and the paid course sits one click away.
What changes when the lead magnet sits outside the school
Outside the school, the reader does not need an account. A lead magnet is read by people who do not know you yet, and an account with a password is a lot to ask of them before a two-page checklist. On Sublead the visitor fills in a first name and an email, ticks the consent box, and the content opens on the same screen.
You also see which topic draws sign-ups. Sublead shows views, sign-ups and conversion rate for each lead magnet, day by day. Publish three freebies on three angles and the numbers tell you which one deserves a full course. The page on lead magnet ideas has formats that suit course creators.
| Free product in Teachable | Lead magnet in Sublead | |
|---|---|---|
| What the reader does | Creates an account in your school | Leaves a first name and an email |
| Where the content is read | Inside the school, after login | On the page, right after sign-up |
| What it costs you | A paid plan, and one of its products | Nothing |
| Best for | A free mini-course with video lessons | A guide, a checklist, a written lesson |
How to use Sublead with a Teachable course
Sublead has no integration with Teachable: sign-ups are not sent to your school, and nothing syncs between the two. The link between them is the call-to-action button of the lead magnet. You choose its label and its destination, so it can say "See the full course" and open your Teachable sales page. It sits at the end of the document, at the foot of each page, or stays pinned to the bottom of the screen.
The contacts you collect live in Sublead. Its integrations today are Systeme.io and ClickFunnels, where each sign-up can arrive with a tag. If you would like the course, the emails and the freebie in one account, compare with Kajabi or Podia, which are built that way. And for what to send between the sign-up and the sale, read the guide on the lead magnet funnel.
Questions and answers
- Is Teachable free?
- No. Teachable has no free plan: each plan starts with a 7-day free trial, then Starter costs $39 a month, or $29 a month billed yearly, as its pricing page stated on 13 November 2026.
- Can I offer a free course on Teachable as a lead magnet?
- Yes. You add a Free pricing plan to a product, and students get full access by creating an account, with no checkout page. You need a paid Teachable plan to do it.
- Is Sublead an alternative to Teachable?
- For the free piece in front of the course, yes. Sublead publishes lead magnets that collect emails; it does not host courses, manage students or take payments, so the course stays on Teachable.
- Does Sublead integrate with Teachable?
- No. The two are linked by the button at the end of your lead magnet, which can open your Teachable sales page. Sublead's integrations are Systeme.io and ClickFunnels.
- What transaction fee does Teachable charge?
- Starter carries a 7.5% transaction fee. Builder and Growth show 0% when you use Teachable Payments, and card processing fees still apply.
- What kind of lead magnet works for an online course?
- Something that solves a small part of what the course solves: a checklist, a template, or the first lesson as a written guide. It should take minutes to read and end with a button to the course.
Sources
What this page says about Teachable was read on its own website on November 13, 2026:
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