Q: Podia charges $79 a month for the option to sell memberships. For a one-time fee of $80, I can buy CMS Pro ($50) and the shop add-on ($30) and have no monthly payments (other than hosting which I can find very affordably). Also, there are other hosted solutions that are much cheaper. that do digital downloads and memberships. Don’t get me wrong, it seems like a very nice platform but honestly I think they charge too much just to have a hosted solution. They could at LEAST have more affordable tiers for people just starting out.
A:Hi there – Podia has a less expensive monthly option (I think it’s $39) – but that to your point – doesn’t include Patreon style memberships and affiliates. I don’t know what CMS PRO is – but the closer cousin or analog would be WordPress and it’s cacaphony of premium online LMS alternatives (Sensei, or any of the free/freemium online LMS analogs) – but here is the thing – Podia offers much, much more than what you illuminate above – they have a full featured email autoresponder/drip/coupon system – pre-launch pages – great looking landing pages – affiliate onboarding and set up (which is critical for a serious online digital media brand & business) – 1 click product bundles – etc, etc – I use another online LMS for a marketplace (see our FB community – http://facebook.com/themindfulmarket) – that costs 5X what Podia charges – is great – but offers significantly less features (but offers better course ecosystem for students and multi-vendor teaching platform, which we need for this community). The truth is – using an outside, well supported platform is a peace of mind thing – a focus on the metrics that matter – (rather than hosting/tech/upates or wrangling with a script) – and knowing 100’s of serious online entrepreneurs who teach, train or offer classes – very few use the style scripts you mention above – if they’re not using Teachable/Thinkific/Kajabi – they are on WordPress – and/or primarily teaching on Udemy/Skillshare as their primary source of income. Podia also offers discounts for annual memberships that reduce the 79 a month considerably – and as an affiliate for Podia – that’s what I see most folks who buy (using my link, so I see the transaction) taking advantage of as well. – so it’s 20% cheaper overall, which to my mind, is as steal of a deal. Thanks 🙂
