Key Takeaways
New Zenler improved but still charges extra for basics. Zenler added AI tools, gamification, and a branded mobile app in 2026 — but the app costs extra every month on top of your plan.
Free plans are disappearing across the board. Thinkific, Teachable, and Podia all killed their free plans recently. If a zero-cost entry point matters to you, Ruzuku is the only platform here still offering a genuine permanent free tier.
Transaction fees are a hidden cost worth calculating. Several platforms — Teachable (7.5% on Starter), Podia (5% on Mover), and LearnWorlds ($5 per enrollment on Starter) quietly eat into revenue at lower tiers.
EzyCourse stands out for all-in-one value as a Zenler alternative. It's the only platform that includes a free white-label branded mobile app in its mid-tier plans, charges 0 trans fees across all plans, and replaces tools like Zoom and Skool under one roof.
Your use case should drive your choice. LearnWorlds wins for structured training and SCORM needs, Kajabi suits creators who prioritize marketing automation with budget flexibility, and Ruzuku works for anyone who wants to start simple with no fees.
When I first wrote about New Zenler alternatives, the platform looked a lot different than it does today. Zenler has actually leveled up in some real ways. It added AI tools across course creation, site building, and quiz writing, rolled out gamification with streaks and leaderboards, and even started offering a branded mobile app as an add-on. Zenler also extended its free trial to a generous 60 days, which is longer than almost anything else in this space.
So this isn't the same "New Zenler has no mobile app and an outdated UI" story I told before. The platform fixed some of its biggest gaps. But that doesn't mean it's the right fit for everyone, and there are still real friction points worth knowing about before you commit your business to it.
What Does New Zenler Look Like in 2026?
New Zenler now runs three plans: Starter, Pro, and Premium, all with zero transaction fees, which is good. The catch with Starter ($47-$57/month) is that it's capped pretty tight — just 5 courses, 1 community, 500 people, and 2 marketing funnels. You'll outgrow it fast if you're serious about scaling.
Pro ($97-$117/month) is where most creators land, and it includes unlimited courses, 100,000 emails/m, 100 funnels, and live chat.
Premium ($277-$347/month) adds single sign-on and priority support on top of that. The branded mobile app, which used to be completely missing, now exists. However, it's a charged monthly add-on layered on top of the plan (except starter) you're already paying for. That's the part that still upsets me. You're not getting a branded app included in a fair-priced tier; you're paying extra every month.
I also noticed New Zenler now pushes AI fairly hard in its marketing — AI course creation, AI site building, AI quiz generation. But in practice, these tools feel more like assistive shortcuts than anything transformative. They speed up first drafts, not much more.
New Zenler Pros
0 transaction fees on every plan
60-day free trial, one of the longest in the industry
AI tools for course creation, site building, and quizzes
Gamification with streaks, points, and leaderboards
Built-in community,
Shared and branded mobile app
live classes, webinars, and live streaming
No per-student fees, so pricing stays flat as you grow
New Zenler Cons
Branded mobile app costs extra monthly, not included in any plan
Starter plan limits are tight (5 courses, 1 community) and force an early upgrade
Site design and template options still feel dated next to newer platforms
Community features remain basic compared to platforms built community-first
AI tools are surface-level rather than genuinely powerful
New Zenler Pricing
Starter: $57/month
Pro: $117/month
Premium: 347/month
7 Best Paid & Free New Zenler Alternatives in 2026
If New Zenler's gaps sound familiar to what you're dealing with or considering moving to, here are 7 platforms I'd actually recommend looking at in 2026.
EzyCourse
Thinkific
LearnWorlds
Teachable
Podia
Kajabi
Ruzuku
1. EzyCourse (Best All-in-one Zenler Alternative)
I keep coming back to EzyCourse when people ask me what to switch to, and the reason is simple: it's the only platform on this list that gives you a free branded mobile app on its mid-tier plans instead of charging you hundreds extra for one. While Zenler charges extra monthly for a branded app, EzyCourse bundles fully white-labeled iOS and Android apps. Published to both Play Store and App Store for you with its Unlimited and Elite plans at no additional cost.
Beyond the app, what stands out to me is how much EzyCourse covers under one roof. You get course creation with an AI assistant, a community builder, 1-on-1 and group coaching tools, native meetings (so you're not paying for Zoom separately), site-wide memberships, and a visual AI website builder, all without bouncing between five different tools. I've watched creators replace Kajabi, Skool, and Zoom subscriptions just by consolidating into EzyCourse.
Pricing is also where it wins outright. EzyCourse starts at $59/month for the Essential plan and tops out at $299/month for Elite, and every tier charges 0% transaction fees. Compare that to a branded app costing $2,388 a year as an add-on elsewhere, and the math gets obvious fast.
Also read: New Zenler App vs. EzyCourse App
EzyCourse Features
AI course builder with 13+ interactive lesson types
Free white-label iOS and Android apps on Unlimited and Elite plans
Facebook-like community with group chats, private chats, and live polls
Native meeting feature, so you skip third-party Zoom costs
Site-wide memberships and flexible pricing models (8+ plans)
Visual AI website builder with 250+ templates
DRM-protected video delivery,
Dynamic watermarking and PDF stamping
Multi-level affiliate program and
Events and appointment booking
Android TV app
Complete white-label branding
Smooth cart checkout
Several third-party integrations available with Webhooks
24/7 human support with under-1-minute average reply time
Free migration from your current platform
EzyCourse Pros
All-in-one course platform
AI Features
Easy-to-use
Zero transaction fees
Feature-rich AI course builder
Budget-friendly
Site-wide memberships to monetize subscriptions
Interactive platform with communities & chat options
Useful native email marketing tools
Zoom-like native meeting feature
24/7 dedicated customer support
EzyCourse Cons
Frequent feature updates
No free plan, but a free trial is available.
EzyCourse Pricing
Yearly Plan:
Essential plan $59/month
Pro plan $139/month
Unlimited plan $199/month
Elite plan $299/month
*Pricing may be subject to change at any time
Why Choose EzyCourse Over Zenler?
EzyCourse comes with plenty of features to meet all your online business needs. It’s a feature-rich platform with more options to create and sell courses, community, memberships, etc.
Zenler closed some gaps this year, but EzyCourse still wins on the things that matter most to many creators: free branded apps without the surcharge, native meetings instead of a separate Zoom bill, deeper community and chat tools, and support that actually feels human and helpful. If you want one platform doing the job of five, this is what I'd choose.
2. Thinkific (Popular New Zenler Alternative But Free Plan is Gone)
Here's the biggest change with Thinkific since I last covered it: the free plan is gone. Thinkific quietly discontinued it, so now you're choosing between Start, Grow, Expand, or a custom Plus plan. You still get a 30-day trial, which is fair, but the "start for free and grow" pitch that used to make Thinkific approachable doesn't really exist anymore.
The other thing I'd flag is the transaction fee structure if you use your own Stripe account instead of Thinkific Payments — you can get charged up to 5% on the cheapest tier. And Thinkific lacks SCORM compliance and the full AI teaching assistant on lower tiers except for Plus.
On the upside, every plan now supports up to 10,000 active students with no per-tier reduction, which is a better deal than it used to be. On monthly billing you're looking at $99 (Start), $199 (Grow), or $499 (Expand).
Thinkific Features:
AI-powered course builder and AI teaching assistant
TCommerce built-in payment and checkout system
SCORM-compliant course support
Membership and subscription programs
Branded mobile app (paid add-on at $199/month)
Community and dedicated spaces
Up to 10,000 students and unlimited courses
Thinkific Pros:
A versatile course platform
Generous 10,000-student cap even on the entry plan
AI course creation tools built in
Long-running, publicly traded platform
Wide app store with dozens of integrations
Thinkific Cons:
Free plan discontinued entirely
Branded app is a pricey separate add-on
Entry plan strips out analytics and bulk import
Recent reviews mention billing issues and difficulty fully canceling
Missing in-built gamification elements
Poor customer support
Thinkific Pricing:
Start Plan: $99/month
Grow Plan: $199/month
Expand Plan: $499/month
Plus Plan: Custom pricing
Why Choose Thinkific over New Zenler?
Extensive Integrations: Thinkific supports over 90 direct third-party integrations offering greater flexibility with various tools.
More Interactive Community Features: All Thinkific plans, including the free one, come with a community space. You can enhance engagement and interaction among your audience.
Built-In Payment Processing: Thinkific includes its own payment processor. So you don’t need to rely on third-party payment apps.
A More Stable Platform: Thinkific has been serving a number of creators for years worldwide. Unlike Zenler there’s a lower chance of bugs or instability within the platform.
Exploring alternatives to Thinkific? Consider checking out 20 Affordable Thinkific Alternatives in 2026.
3. LearnWorlds (Zenler Alternative for Training Programs)
LearnWorlds dropped its entry price to $29/month, which sounds great until you notice the catch: the Starter plan charges a flat $5 fee per enrollment. If you're selling a $30 course, that fee eats a meaningful chunk of every sale. It only makes sense if your courses are priced above $200-$300 and you're not selling in high volume.
Stepping up to Pro Trainer at $99/month removes that fee entirely and is genuinely the sweet spot for most serious creators. LearnWorlds' real strength continues to be its interactive video tools — adding quizzes, hotspots, and branching paths directly inside video lessons is something very few competitors do well. I'd also call out that the AI features are heavily tiered: the AI assistant exists on every plan, but the more useful AI tools (subtitles, translation, content-aware quiz generation, AI insights) are mostly locked to the top-tier Learning Center plan at $299/month.
LearnWorlds Features:
Flexible courses
Built-in automation with triggers, actions, and conditions
AI assistance
Interactive videos
Live lessons
Assessment & survey builder
Website Builder
Mobile app builder
Analytics & reports
SCORM compliance
Gamification elements
Bundles & subscriptions
LearnWorlds Pros:
Enterprise-level platform specialized training programs
Best-in-class interactive video tools
30-day free trial with full feature access
Strong AI subtitle and translation tools
Comprehensive features sets
Gamification tools to boost student engagement
AI assistance in course creation
LearnWorlds Cons:
$5 per-enrollment fee on the Starter plan
Most useful AI tools are locked behind the $299/month plan
Mobile app and white-label branding require a real budget jump
Lower tiers can feel limited for community-driven creators
Basic reports and analytics
Limited customization in website design
Poor customer support
LearnWorlds Pricing
Starter Plan: $29 monthly
Pro Trainer Plan: $99 monthly
Learning Centre Plan: $299 monthly
High Volume & Corporate Plans: Custom pricing
Also Read: LearnWorlds Alternative
Why Choose LearnWorlds Over New Zenler?
If you're building structured, assessment-heavy training — especially anything that needs SCORM compliance — LearnWorlds' interactive video and assessment tools go further than New Zenler's. Just budget for Pro Trainer or higher; the Starter plan's per-enrollment fee makes it a poor fit for most course pricing.
4. Teachable (Best Zenler Alternative for Online School)
Teachable went through a real pricing overhaul, and the free plan is fully gone now. You're starting at $39/month on the Starter plan, and that plan still charges a steep 7.5% transaction fee on every sale, on top of standard card processing fees. If you're making consistent sales, the math flips quickly — Builder at $89/month removes that fee entirely and usually ends up cheaper once you cross roughly $500/month in revenue.
The other shift I'd flag, based on what I've seen in recent reviews, is that support increasingly routes through an AI chatbot before you reach a human, which is a step down from what creators used to expect from Teachable. Cancellation has also come up as a pain point in several reviews I came across, with people describing repeated charges even after trying to cancel.
Teachable Features:
Drag-and-drop course builder with multimedia support
Native mobile app for students (no branded option)
Automatic sales tax handling
Built-in website builder with templates
Affiliate marketing tools from the Builder plan up
One-time payments, subscriptions, and different payment plans.
Teachable Pros:
User-friendly interface suitable for beginners.
High level of customization for branding
Flexible payment processing methods
Plenty of third-party integrations
Useful marketing and sales tools
Teachable Cons:
No free plan anymore
7.5% transaction fee on the Starter plan
Support has shifted toward AI-first responses
Multiple recent reviews cite billing and cancellation issues
No branded/white-label app option at all
Teachable Pricing:
Starter Plan: $39/month (7.5% transaction fee)
Builder Plan: $89/month (No transaction fees)
Growth plan: $189/month
Custom plan: Custom
You can also look for some Teachable alternatives
5. Podia (Simpler Zenler Alternative But Pricier Than Before)
Podia removed its free plan back in October 2024, and that change has stuck through 2026. Podia's own pricing page now lists three tiers: Mover at $49/month, Shaker at $99/month, and a newer top tier called Earthquaker at $179/month for creators who want essentially no limits. Only Mover carries a transaction fee, at 5%; both Shaker and Earthquaker are 0%.
What I still like about Podia is its simplicity. You're not wading through dozens of settings to get a course or community live. And the built-in email marketing on every plan is solid for a platform this streamlined. The break-even point between Mover and Shaker lands somewhere around $800-840/month in sales, so if you're already making consistent revenue, Shaker (or Earthquaker, if you need the higher limits) pays for itself.
Podia Features:
Built-in email marketing with drip campaigns
Course, coaching, community, and digital download support in one product
Built in checkout for a smoother buying experience.
User-friendly website builder
Multiple selling options
Podia Pros:
Beginner-friendly interface
Solid built-in email marketing without needing a separate tool.
30-day free trial, no credit card required.
A genuine top tier (Earthquaker) for creators who've outgrown Shaker's limit
Easy tracking of sales, student engagement, and other metrics
Podia Cons:
No permanent free plan anymore
Pricing has crept up noticeably
5% transaction fee on the entry-level Mover plan
No mobile app, branded or otherwise
Affiliate marketing not available on Mover
Fewer features compared to other platforms
Podia Pricing:
Mover Plan: $49/month (5% transaction fee)
Shaker Plan: $99/month
Earthquaker Plan: $179/month
6. Kajabi (Still the Priciest Zenler Alternative And It Got Pricier)
Kajabi is the first online course platform for knowledge entrepreneurs. It’s an all-in-one platform covering most of the tools for running an online course business.
Kajabi raised prices across the board in its January 2026 restructure, and its lower-cost Kickstarter plan was pulled from public pricing. You're now looking at a real floor of $179/month for the Basic plan, with contact limits that were also tightened in the same update. If you want the branded mobile app or full API access, you need the Pro tier specifically, which runs $499/month — by far the most expensive branded-app gate on this entire list.
Kajabi has leaned hard into AI this year with Creator Studio tools for course outlines, email drafts, and landing page copy, plus an AI-assisted automation builder. Some of that is genuinely useful, but I'd flag that AI video transcription, which is limited upto 1 video project.
Kajabi Features:
Feature-rich course builder
AI Creator Studio AI
Visual automation builder with branching logic
Built-in podcast hosting with RSS distribution
Community 2.0 with access groups and gamification
Branded mobile app and full API access
Membership site building feature
Native payment processor
Podcast features
Kajabi Pros:
Array of features
All-in-one course platform
Easy-to-use
Comprehensive training resources
AI tools available for assistance
Several sales and marketing tools
Kajabi Cons:
Highest entry point of any platform on this list
Limited options to sell physical products
Branded app and API access locked behind the Pro tier
Charge extra costs for integrations
Limited storage
Looking for the best Kajabi alternative?
Kajabi Pricing:
Basic: $179/m
Growth: $249/m
Pro: $499/m
Also read: 10 affordable websites like Kajabi
7. Ruzuku (Free Alternative to Zenler)
Ruzuku is a free Zenler alternative course platform. Ruzuku hasn't chased the same pricing changes as everyone else on this list, and that consistency is honestly part of its appeal now. It still has a genuine, permanent free plan (capped at 5 students, no time limit). And its paid tiers — Core at $99/month and Pro at $199/month — charge zero transaction fees on every single sale.
What's changed is that Ruzuku has clearly grown more confident as a direct competitor rather than a bare-bones budget option. It now publishes detailed, plan-by-plan comparisons against Thinkific, Kajabi, Teachable, and Skool, and leans on its long operating history and stable pricing as a selling point. It's still not the platform I'd reach for if you want a flashy website builder or branded mobile app — neither is part of the offering, but for creators who just want to teach without worrying about fees eating into sales, it's a solid, low-drama choice.
Like Zenler, Ruzuku also offers courses and community-building features. Plus, you will get some pre-built customizable templates while launching your website. The platform supports various course types. It allows you to start with self-paced, and live courses with unlimited video, audio, and file hosting.
Overall, Ruzuku lets online creators sell courses, digital downloads, communities, webinars, and coaching.
Ruzuku Features:
Accept payments via Stripe, PayPal, or other methods
Discussion forums and Q&A forums
Host interactive video broadcasts
Versatile document hosting.
Pre-built customizable templates
Zero transaction fees on every plan
Custom domain and certificates
Daily backups and global CDN-based video delivery
Ruzuku Pros:
Easy-to-start
Advanced teleconferencing tools
Intuitive discussion forums
Responsive customer support (Phone and Skype)
Beautiful course interface
Ruzuku Cons:
Limited customization
Limits on Webinar
Fewer marketing features than other platforms
Not suitable for building sales funnels
Not designed for large-scale community building
Ruzuku Pricing:
Free
Core: $99/month
Pro: $199/month
Which is the Best New Zenler Alternative?
So, Which New Zenler Alternative Should You Pick?
Looking at where things stand in 2026, the platforms that used to compete mostly on price are now competing on what they quietly take away — free plans disappearing, transaction fees creeping back in or staying put, AI features splitting into paid add-ons. Zenler closed some real gaps this year, but it still asks you to pay extra for a branded app that several competitors either include or price more transparently.
If I were starting from scratch today, EzyCourse is still where I'd point most creators — a free branded app at the Unlimited tier, zero transaction fees across every plan, and a genuinely all-in-one toolkit make the math work out cleanly compared to almost everything else on this list. But your right answer really depends on what you're building: LearnWorlds for serious training content, Ruzuku if you want to start at zero cost, or Kajabi if marketing automation is your priority and budget isn't a constraint.
Whatever you pick, test the free trial before you commit a year of pricing to it. Every platform here looks different in the demo than it does once your students and your revenue are actually riding on it, and pricing pages in this space change often enough that it's worth a final check on the provider's own site before you sign up.
