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Start free trialYou can sell online courses without a monthly subscription in two ways: a pay-per-sale platform that takes a percentage of every sale and charges no fixed fee, or one annual plan with a smaller fee on sales (or none). Pay-per-sale usually costs least while sales are small; an annual plan costs less once yearly sales grow, from about ₹5 lakh in the examples below. If you are happy to pay monthly, a plan with 0% commission and no lock-in can leave you more once sales are steady.
Most educators meet the monthly bill at the worst moment. You teach SSC maths in Hindi on YouTube, or spoken English on Instagram, and decide to sell your first course. The platform you like bills you every month, in the months you sell well and in the months you sell nothing, such as the weeks after an exam when students disappear.
This guide compares the three ways to pay for a course platform: a monthly subscription, pay per sale and an annual plan. It works out what each costs from no sales to ₹20 lakh a year, using published prices, and shows where each one wins. All cost figures are illustrative and before GST unless we say otherwise.
Key takeaways
- There are two ways to avoid a monthly bill: pay per sale (a percentage of each sale, no fixed fee) or one annual plan with a smaller fee on sales, or 0%.
- Pay per sale costs least at small sales. With 10% on every sale, ₹1 lakh of sales costs ₹10,000 a year, before add-ons such as your own app or website.
- An annual plan costs less as sales grow. In our worked table, an annual plan with a lower fee starts to cost less than a 10% commission at about ₹5 lakh of yearly sales.
- AllCoaching offers both (before GST): monthly plans at 0% commission from ₹3,999 with no lock-in, or yearly plans from ₹6,999 + 10% with no monthly bill. Below about ₹4 lakh of yearly sales, a yearly plan usually costs least; above that, a monthly 0% plan usually leaves you more.
- Compare yearly totals, not headline prices. Add GST, gateway charges and every add-on you need, such as a branded app, website or custom domain.
- A monthly bill is not the problem on its own; a lock-in and a fee on top are. If you pay monthly, look for 0% commission and no lock-in, and compare what each 0% plan includes, not only its price.
Can you sell online courses without a monthly subscription?
Yes. A course platform charges you in one of three ways: a fixed monthly subscription, a percentage of every sale with no fixed fee (pay per sale), or one annual plan, usually with a smaller percentage on sales. Only the first one sends you a bill every month.
| Model | What you pay | In a month with no sales | Costs least when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly subscription | A fixed bill every month, sometimes plus a fee on sales | The full monthly bill | Sales are high and steady all year |
| Pay per sale (commission only) | A percentage of every sale, no fixed fee | Nothing for the plan | Sales are small or uncertain |
| Annual plan + smaller fee | One yearly bill and a lower percentage, or 0% | No new bill; the plan is already paid | Sales are growing or already large |
The search "course platform without monthly fee" usually comes from one worry: paying a bill before you earn. Pay per sale removes that worry completely. An annual plan removes the monthly bill, but you pay once for the year, so it suits an educator who expects to sell steadily.
If you are still deciding what an academy of your own includes, start with what an online academy is, then come back to the costs.
Why a monthly subscription is hard on a new academy
A monthly subscription is hard on a new academy because the bill is fixed while teaching income is not. Your sales move with exam calendars, admission seasons and your own launch dates, but the bill arrives on the same date every month.
Teaching income in India is seasonal. A NEET or JEE educator sells most batches before the exam year starts; a board-exam educator is busy from October to February; a CUET or state PSC educator follows the notification. Between those peaks, many academies sell very little.
A monthly plan also adds twelve renewal moments a year. That pressure pushes many educators to rush a launch or cut a price to cover the next bill, which is the opposite of what a new academy needs.
When a monthly subscription is the right choice
A monthly plan is not wrong in itself. It is the right choice when you want to test a platform for a month or two before committing, or when your sales are high and steady enough that a 0% fee saves more than the monthly bill costs. Check two things before you pick one: that there is no lock-in, so you can stop in a quiet month, and that the plan takes no fee on top of the bill.
Card auto-debits for recurring bills in India run on e-mandates. In June 2022 the Reserve Bank of India raised the limit for recurring card payments that can run without a fresh one-time password from ₹5,000 to ₹15,000 per transaction.[1] If a monthly bill is above that limit, expect to approve the payment yourself, and check the RBI's current e-mandate rules before you rely on auto-debit.
Question educators ask
Is an annual plan just a subscription paid once a year?
Yes, and that is the honest way to describe it. An annual plan is a yearly subscription: you pay once, for twelve months, and renew once a year. The difference from a monthly plan is one bill and one renewal decision instead of twelve, and a known cost for the year on day one.
Pay-per-sale course platforms in India: when commission-only costs less
A pay-per-sale course platform charges no fixed fee and keeps a percentage of every sale instead. It costs least when your sales are small, because a month with no sales costs nothing and the fee only grows when your income does.
Two Indian examples, from their official pricing pages checked on 24 October 2026:
- Exly Starter shows its annual upfront fee as "FREE" with a 10% commission on sales. Its add-ons are priced separately: a mobile app (iOS and Android) from ₹60,000 a year, a custom website from ₹60,000 a year and white-labelled branding from ₹20,000 a year. Source: Exly pricing.
- TagMango Basic has no fixed fee and a 10% commission that includes the Indian payment gateway, and it is capped at 200 students. A custom domain needs its Freedom Setup at ₹24,999 a year on top of a plan, and all TagMango prices are plus GST. Source: TagMango pricing.
So pay per sale is a good way to test an idea. If you are selling your first ₹50,000 of courses, a 10% commission costs ₹5,000, less than any annual plan.
Where pay per sale stops being the low-cost choice
Two things change as you grow. First, the commission grows with every sale: at ₹10 lakh of yearly sales, 10% is ₹1 lakh a year. Second, the things that make an academy feel like your own, such as your own app, your own website or your own domain, are often priced as add-ons on pay-per-sale plans. Add them and the "no fixed fee" plan has a fixed fee after all.
Pay per sale fits
Testing one course. Uncertain demand. Sales under about ₹2–3 lakh a year. You do not need your own app or domain yet.
Look again when
Sales pass about ₹5 lakh a year. You need your own app, website or domain as paid add-ons. A student cap limits your batch size.
Annual plan vs monthly subscription LMS: what you actually pay
An annual plan usually costs less over a year than the same plan billed monthly, and it replaces twelve bills with one. Many LMS platforms in India publish both prices, so you can compare them directly.
| Platform and plan | Billed monthly | Billed annually | Fee on sales |
|---|---|---|---|
| Learnyst Professional | ₹8,999 a month (₹1,07,988 a year) | ₹8,099 a month (₹97,188 a year) | 0% transaction fees |
| Edmingle Core | ₹8,999 a month (₹1,07,988 a year) | ₹7,499 a month (₹89,988 a year) | Not stated on the page |
| TagMango Pro | ₹5,000 a month (₹60,000 a year) | Not recorded in our check | 5.5%, including the Indian gateway |
| Learnyst Launcher | Not offered | ₹10,000 a year | 10% of sales |
| Classplus (1 year) | Not listed | ₹29,999 for 1 year | Not stated on the page |
| AllCoaching Starter / Growth / Pro | ₹3,999 / ₹5,999 / ₹7,999 a month (₹47,988 / ₹71,988 / ₹95,988 a year), no lock-in | ₹6,999 / ₹12,999 / ₹24,999 a year | 0% billed monthly; 10% / 7.5% / 5% billed yearly |
Two things to read carefully in a table like this. First, what the plan includes: Learnyst's page lists a common Android and iOS app on Professional and a branded Android app from Premium, while every AllCoaching plan includes your own white-label Android app (iOS on Pro monthly or any yearly plan). Second, what the page does not say: Classplus does not state a fee on sales, GST treatment or renewal price on its plan page, so ask before you compare it.
AllCoaching's monthly and yearly plans differ in more than billing. The monthly plans take 0% of your sales for a higher plan price, with no sales limit; the yearly plans cost much less up front but take 10%, 7.5% or 5% of each sale. So the lower yearly plan price is not always the lower yearly total, as the next table shows.
Course platform cost at every sales level: the worked table
The yearly cost of a course platform is its plan price plus its fee on sales, so the platform that costs least depends on how much you sell. The table works this out for six sales levels using published prices.
| Your sales in a year | AllCoaching (lowest-cost plan) | Exly Starter (10%) | Learnyst Launcher (₹10,000 + 10%) | TagMango Pro (₹5,000/mo + 5.5%) | Learnyst Professional, monthly (0%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No sales | ₹6,999 (Starter) | Nil | ₹10,000 | ₹60,000 | ₹1,07,988 |
| ₹1 lakh | ₹16,999 (Starter) | ₹10,000 | ₹20,000 | ₹65,500 | ₹1,07,988 |
| ₹3 lakh | ₹35,499 (Growth yearly) | ₹30,000 | ₹40,000 | ₹76,500 | ₹1,07,988 |
| ₹6 lakh | ₹47,988 (Starter monthly) | ₹60,000 | ₹70,000 | ₹93,000 | ₹1,07,988 |
| ₹10 lakh | ₹47,988 (Starter monthly) | ₹1,00,000 | ₹1,10,000 | ₹1,15,000 | ₹1,07,988 |
| ₹20 lakh | ₹47,988 (Starter monthly) | ₹2,00,000 | ₹2,10,000 | ₹1,70,000 | ₹1,07,988 |
What the table shows
- Under about ₹3 lakh of sales, pay per sale costs least on platform cost alone. Exly Starter is ₹6,999 lower than AllCoaching Starter at every level up to ₹2.4 lakh, because both take 10%.
- From about ₹5 lakh, a plan with a lower fee costs less than a 10% commission. AllCoaching's monthly Starter at 0% (₹47,988 a year) matches 10% at ₹4.8 lakh, and yearly Pro (₹24,999 + 5%) matches it at ₹5 lakh; both are lower above that.
- Monthly plans with 0% fees cost the same at every sales level, so they only cost less once your sales are high. Learnyst Professional billed monthly costs less than a 10% commission above about ₹10.8 lakh; AllCoaching's monthly Starter (₹3,999 a month) from about ₹4.8 lakh, with no sales limit.
- Above about ₹4.7 lakh, a 0% plan costs least on AllCoaching: monthly Starter (₹47,988 a year), with no sales limit; monthly Growth and Pro add storage, seats and, on Pro, the iOS app. Learnyst Professional billed annually is ₹97,188 a year plus taxes and Edmingle Core ₹89,988 (fee on sales not stated), so compare what each plan includes, not only the price.
Your own numbers decide the answer. To estimate your yearly sales, multiply your course price by the students you expect; our guide on how to price an online course in India includes a take-home calculator you can reuse.
Which AllCoaching plan fits your sales level
On AllCoaching, before GST, yearly Starter suits sales below about ₹2.4 lakh of yearly sales and yearly Growth up to about ₹4.7 lakh. Above that, monthly Starter at 0% commission costs least at every sales level, because no plan has a sales limit. Put simply: below about ₹4 lakh of yearly sales, a yearly plan usually costs least; above that, a monthly 0% plan usually leaves you more.
Here is where the numbers come from. Growth costs ₹6,000 more than Starter and saves 2.5% on every sale, so it pays for itself at ₹2.4 lakh (₹6,000 ÷ 2.5%). Monthly Starter costs ₹47,988 for 12 months with no fee on sales, so it costs less than yearly Starter above about ₹4.1 lakh and less than yearly Growth above about ₹4.7 lakh (₹34,989 ÷ 7.5%). With no sales limit, it stays the lowest-cost plan at any higher level. Monthly Growth (₹71,988) and Pro (₹95,988) cost more on price alone; choose them for more storage and team seats, and on Pro for 4K and the iOS app.
| Plan | Cost for 12 months (excl. GST) | Platform fee | Sales limit | Lowest cost when yearly sales are |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter, yearly | ₹6,999 | 10% | None | Under ₹2.4 lakh |
| Growth, yearly | ₹12,999 | 7.5% | None | ₹2.4 lakh – ₹4.7 lakh |
| Starter, monthly | ₹47,988 (₹3,999 a month) | 0% | None | Above ₹4.7 lakh |
| Pro, yearly | ₹24,999 | 5% | None | Never on price; adds 3 TB, 4K and a premium theme |
| Growth, monthly | ₹71,988 (₹5,999 a month) | 0% | None | Never on price; adds 1 TB and 5 seats |
| Pro, monthly | ₹95,988 (₹7,999 a month) | 0% | None | Never on price; adds 4K and the iOS app |
We set the plans up this way so that you can avoid a monthly bill while sales are small, and keep 100% of each sale once they are steady. Upgrades on the yearly plans take effect on payment, with the unused value of your current plan credited.
Costs that stay with any course platform
Removing the monthly bill does not remove every cost. Payment gateway charges, GST, add-ons, marketing and your own time stay with you on any platform, so add them before you compare.
Payment gateway charges
Every UPI or card payment passes through a payment gateway. Razorpay's pricing page lists a 2% flat standard fee per transaction and notes 0% MDR on UPI for most transactions, so what you pay depends on how your students pay.[2] Some course platforms include gateway charges in their fee and some add them on top, so ask yours. Our guide to accepting UPI payments for online courses explains checkout in more detail.
GST
Most plan prices in this guide exclude GST, and Indian coaching services are generally taxed at 18% once you are registered. Add GST to every plan price before you compare, and read our guide on GST for coaching institutes for when registration applies.
Add-ons
List every feature you need and check whether it is included or extra: your own Android or iOS app, a website on your own domain, Zoom, branding and extra teacher logins. On some platforms these add-ons cost more each year than the plan itself.
Marketing and your time
No pricing model brings students on its own. You will still teach on YouTube, post on Instagram, answer on WhatsApp and perhaps run ads. Our guides to digital marketing for coaching institutes and Meta ads for coaching institutes cover both free and paid ways to find students.
The market is large enough for every model to exist. IBEF puts India's edtech market at ₹64,875 crore (US$7.5 billion), projected to reach ₹2,50,850 crore by 2030–31.[3]
How to sell online courses without a monthly subscription: 7 steps
Here is the method in order: an afternoon of maths and a two-week trial.
- Estimate your yearly salesMultiply your course price by the students you expect in a year, for example ₹2,999 × 100 = ₹2,99,900. Use a low and a high estimate.
- List the features you needWrite down what your academy needs: website on your own domain, your own Android or iOS app, live classes, test series, UPI checkout and more.
- Shortlist one platform per modelPick one pay-per-sale platform, one monthly plan and one annual plan, and open each official pricing page.
- Work out the yearly totalFor each, add the plan price for 12 months and the fee on sales at your low and high estimates.
- Add GST, gateway charges and add-onsAdd GST where prices exclude it, ask whether gateway charges are inside the fee, and add every add-on you listed in step 2.
- Test with a free trialBuild your course page, set a price and check the student checkout during a free trial before you pay for a plan.
- Choose, then review every yearPick the lowest yearly total that includes what you need, and check again at renewal when your sales have changed.
Build your own academy. Try it free for 7 days.
Website on your own domain, your own Android app, unlimited live classes and UPI checkout on every plan. 0% commission on every monthly plan from ₹3,999 a month, or yearly from ₹6,999 (excl. GST).
No card needed · Cancel anytime in the trial · Your data stays exportableWhich model fits your stage
Choose by your expected yearly sales: pay per sale or a low-priced annual plan while you test an idea, an annual plan with a lower fee as you grow, and a 0% commission plan, monthly or yearly, once sales are large.
Testing an idea · under ₹1 lakh a year
A yoga teacher selling a first ₹1,499 recorded course to 30 students (₹44,970 of sales, illustrative) pays least with pay per sale. If you want your own website, domain and Android app from day one, Starter adds them for ₹3,999 a month at 0% commission, or ₹6,999 a year plus 10% on sales, plus GST.
Growing · ₹1 lakh to ₹5 lakh a year
An SSC educator selling a ₹2,999 batch to 120 students (₹3.6 lakh, illustrative) sits in Growth's range. The yearly plan cost is known on day one, and the fee is 7.5% instead of 10%.
Established · ₹5 lakh to ₹15 lakh a year
A NEET biology academy selling ₹8 lakh a year (illustrative) pays ₹47,988 on monthly Starter at 0% commission before GST, against ₹80,000 at a 10% commission and ₹64,999 on yearly Pro. Every further sale is 100% theirs.
Large · above ₹15 lakh a year
Above ₹15 lakh, a 0% commission plan usually costs least. On AllCoaching that is a monthly plan with no sales limit: Starter at ₹3,999 a month, or Pro at ₹7,999 a month with your own Android and iOS app and 4K, with no lock-in. Compare it with other 0% plans on what they include, such as your own branded apps and domain, not only on price.
If you are still at the first step, read how to create your first online course before you choose a plan; the course decides your price, and the price decides your plan.
Mistakes educators make when avoiding the monthly fee
The most common mistake is comparing the monthly price alone, without adding the fee on sales, GST and add-ons for a full year.
Each fix takes minutes: work out a full-year total at your sales level, list the add-ons you need, add GST, and confirm that your students and content can be exported if you ever move.
When we talk to educators who switch platforms, the reason is rarely the first-year price. It is usually a cost they did not see coming, such as an app add-on or a fee that grew with their sales, which is why we publish every plan price before anyone signs up.
Selling with AllCoaching: monthly at 0% or one yearly plan
AllCoaching works like Shopify for coaching: sign up, choose a plan, upload your course, connect your domain and start selling. Payments, student access, apps and hosting run on their own, and you choose how to pay: one predictable yearly plan with a small fee on sales and no monthly bill, or a monthly plan at 0% commission with no lock-in.
Every plan includes a website on your own connected domain, your own white-label Android app (iOS app on Pro monthly and every yearly plan), unlimited live classes through YouTube Live or Zoom, plus built-in live classroom hours, unlimited videos through YouTube, UPI and card checkout with automatic Razorpay payouts, Meta Pixel and Google Tag Manager, and free customizable themes and templates. Yearly Pro adds a premium theme. Yearly, Starter is ₹6,999 (10% platform fee), Growth ₹12,999 (7.5%) and Pro ₹24,999 (5%). Monthly, at 0% commission, Starter is ₹3,999, Growth ₹5,999 and Pro ₹7,999. No plan has a sales limit. Prices exclude GST, payment gateway charges are separate, and every plan starts with a 7-day free trial with no card needed. The pricing page has the full comparison.
To see the whole path in practice, read how to start an online coaching academy without coding, how to start an online academy in 5 steps and how to sell courses online in India.
Glossary
- Monthly subscription
- A pricing model where a platform charges a fixed bill every month, whether or not you sell, sometimes with a fee on sales as well.
- Pay per sale
- A pricing model with no fixed fee where the platform keeps a percentage of every sale you make. Also called commission-only pricing.
- Annual plan
- A yearly subscription paid once for twelve months, usually lower than the same plan billed monthly, and often with a smaller fee on sales.
- Platform fee
- The percentage of each sale a course platform keeps for its service, such as 10%, 7.5% or 5% on AllCoaching's yearly plans and 0% on its monthly plans.
- Breakeven
- The sales level at which two plans cost the same in a year. Above it, the plan with the lower percentage costs less.
- Payment gateway
- The service that processes UPI, card and netbanking payments and sends the money to the seller, for a per-transaction charge.
- E-mandate
- A standing instruction that lets a merchant charge your card or UPI account automatically for recurring payments, under RBI rules.
- Add-on
- A feature sold separately from a plan, such as a branded app, custom website, custom domain or extra integrations.
Frequently asked questions
Can I sell online courses without paying a monthly subscription?
Yes. Use a pay-per-sale platform that takes a percentage of each sale with no fixed fee, or one annual plan with a smaller fee on sales or none. Pay per sale usually costs least at small sales; an annual plan costs less as sales grow. If you do pay monthly, a plan with 0% commission and no lock-in can leave you more once sales are steady.
Which is better for a new educator, pay per sale or an annual plan?
If you expect under about ₹1 lakh of sales in your first year, pay per sale usually costs least on platform cost alone. If you need your own website, domain and app from the start, check what those add-ons cost; a low-priced annual plan that includes them can cost less overall.
At what sales level does an annual plan cost less than a 10% commission?
In our illustrative table, an annual plan with a 5% fee and a ₹24,999 price matches a 10% commission at ₹5 lakh of yearly sales and costs less above it, before GST and add-ons.
Is an annual plan a subscription?
Yes. An annual plan is a yearly subscription that you pay once and renew once a year. It replaces twelve monthly bills with one and fixes your platform cost for the year.
Does AllCoaching have a monthly plan?
Yes. AllCoaching has three monthly plans at 0% commission with no lock-in: Starter ₹3,999, Growth ₹5,999 and Pro ₹7,999, with no sales limit. If you prefer no monthly bill, the yearly plans are Starter ₹6,999, Growth ₹12,999 and Pro ₹24,999 with a 10%, 7.5% or 5% platform fee. Prices exclude GST, and every plan starts with a 7-day free trial with no card needed.
Which AllCoaching plan fits my sales?
Before GST, yearly Starter suits sales below about ₹2.4 lakh of yearly sales, yearly Growth to about ₹4.7 lakh, and monthly Starter (0%) above that, with no sales limit. Put simply: below about ₹4 lakh, a yearly plan usually costs least; above that, a monthly 0% plan usually leaves you more.
Is there a zero commission course platform in India?
Yes, several plans charge 0% on sales for a fixed price. AllCoaching's monthly plans take 0% commission from ₹3,999 a month plus GST, with Pro at ₹7,999 a month (₹95,988 a year) and no sales limit. Learnyst lists 0% transaction fees on Professional at ₹8,099 a month billed annually, which is ₹97,188 a year plus taxes. Compare what each includes.
Are payment gateway charges included in the platform fee?
It depends on the platform. TagMango, for example, says its commission includes the Indian payment gateway. Others add gateway charges on top. Ask the platform before you compare, and check the gateway's own pricing page.
What costs remain if I avoid a monthly subscription?
GST, payment gateway charges, add-ons such as your own app or domain, marketing and your own time. Add these to the plan price and the fee on sales to see your real yearly cost.
Sources
- Reserve Bank of India, "Processing of e-mandates for recurring transactions", circular RBI/2022-23/73, 16 June 2022. rbi.org.in, checked October 2026.
- Razorpay, "Pricing". razorpay.com, checked October 2026.
- India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), "Education and Training Industry in India". ibef.org, checked October 2026.
- Competitor plan prices: official pricing pages of Exly pricing, TagMango pricing, Learnyst pricing, Edmingle pricing and Classplus, checked 24 October 2026.
Amit builds AllCoaching, the academy platform Indian educators set up themselves: their own website on their own domain, their own app, and the tools to grow it. AllCoaching sells both yearly plans and monthly 0% plans, so this guide shows the maths at every sales level, names where a pay-per-sale or another platform's plan costs less, and links every competitor figure to its official page.
