While not the traditional crowdfunding platform, Podia offers a Patreon-esque experience for creators to easily market and sell digital content.
WRITTEN & RESEARCHED BY
Editor & Senior Staff Writer
Last updated onUpdated
REVIEWED BY
Lead Staff Writer
| Total Rating | 4.7 |
|---|---|
| Terms & Fees4.3 | |
| Project Qualifications5.0 | |
| Application Process4.8 | |
| Sales & Advertising Transparency4.8 | |
| Customer Service4.7 | |
| User Reviews4.1 | |
Table of Contents
Podia began its life as Coach, a site for sellers of online courses and digital downloads. In 2017, Coach rebranded as Podia and now allows creators to offer memberships to its customers earn revenue on a recurring basis.
Podia doesn’t identify as a crowdfunding platform. However, at the time of its rebranding, the company began to market itself as a more creator-friendly alternative to the subscription-based crowdfunding site Patreon. Podia is an all-in-one platform that combines websites, blogs, digital content, and marketing.
It may not be a traditional crowdfunder, but all things considered, Podia deserves consideration as a crowdfunding platform for creators of digital content.
Unlike most crowdfunding sites, Podia doesn’t direct you to choose a particular campaign specialty (technology, games, music, etc.) when you sign up.
Instead, you’re prompted to sign up for a membership. Add-ons are also available for an additional monthly fee.
While specific features are dependent on membership level, here’s everything Podia has to offer:
| Project Qualifications5.0 |
|---|
| Availability 5.0 |
| Transparency 5.0 |
If you set up a Podia account, you’ll be able to start selling memberships, digital courses, and digital downloads as soon as you complete the account setup process.
Podia has a short list of content that is prohibited from its platform. This includes:
Creators in all 50 states can use Podia.
Because Podia has so few restrictions, allowing nearly anyone to use the platform, we give it a perfect 5-star rating in this category.
| Terms & Fees4.3 |
|---|
| Affordability 4.0 |
| Campaign Terms 5.0 |
Podia has four monthly subscription plans. Note that in addition to these monthly fees, you will also have to pay transaction fees and payment processing fees for each sale you make.
| Podia Plan | Price | When To Use |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0/month | If you want a free website and blog and want to test out Podia’s offerings |
| Starter | $9/month | If you want a custom domain and chat support |
| Mover | $39/month | If you want to sell coaching, webinars, digital downloads, and more |
| Shaker | $89/month | If you want advanced marketing features and no transaction fees |
Here’s a breakdown of each pricing plan:
The Free plan costs $0/month and includes:
The Starter plan costs $9/month and includes everything from the Free plan, plus:
The Mover plan costs $39/month and includes everything from the Starter plan, plus:
The Shaker plan costs $89/month and includes everything from the Mover plan, plus:
As mentioned previously, Podia is not a traditional crowdfunding platform, so there are no limitations to how long you can sell your content.
The Free plan is pretty limited in its features and is best for businesses that want to sell a single product. It’s also important to remember that this plan isn’t truly free, as it comes with 10% transaction fees plus payment processing costs.
While the Shaker plan has the highest monthly fees, the lack of a transaction fee makes it a competitively priced option for high-volume sellers.
You must look at several variables to compare Podia’s fees to other platforms. A monthly fee and low (or no) transaction fees are a good deal for anyone who makes a good amount of monthly sales. On the flip side, creators who don’t make any sales will still be stuck with the monthly payment.
Overall, Podia gives good value to creators, earning it a rating of 4.3/5.
| Podia Extra Costs | Price |
|---|---|
| Email Marketing | Starts at $0/month |
| Payment Processing | 2.9% + $0.30 |
Payment processing fees of 2.9% + $0.30 are applied to every transaction.
You can also add on email marketing to your plan. Pricing ranges from free for up to 100 subscribers to $502/month for up to 100,000 subscribers. A 20% discount is available if you choose annual billing. Custom pricing is available for creators that market to over 100K subscribers.
| Application Process4.8 |
|---|
| Prescreening & Application 5.0 |
| Campaign Funding 4.4 |
Setting up a Podia account is extremely straightforward and simple. Select a plan, enter your name and email address, and select a password. If you opt for a paid plan, you’ll submit payment info. If you choose the free plan (which we recommend to try Podia for yourself), you’ll immediately be taken to your dashboard.
From here, getting started is made easy. Podia has a checklist of items to get you started, with links to take you right where you want to go. You can immediately set up your website, email, or community; create a product; update your settings and payments; or start blogging. A link is also available to upgrade your plan at any time.
Just getting started took less than one minute. While creating your website or blog and adding your products may take some time, the process simply can’t get any easier.
Once you’re all set up and making sales, cashing out is easy. Podia does not hold funds, and you’ll receive your payments typically within two business days.
Overall, Podia’s application process is excellent and earns it a 4.8/5 stars.
| Sales & Advertising Transparency4.8 |
|---|
| Sales Practices 5.0 |
| Web Presence 4.6 |
Podia discloses all relevant information about its services on its website, including its Acceptable Use Policy and Terms of Service. Everything is straightforward, and there are no gimmicks or glaring red flags.
Though we did deduct a few points for its infrequent updates on social media, Podia still earned a respectable 4.8/5 for sales and advertising transparency.
| Customer Service4.7 |
|---|
| Personal Support 4.6 |
| Self-Service 5.0 |
Podia offers email support to all users. Subscribers of paid plans can also access live chat support Monday through Friday from 9 AM to 6 PM EST.
| Podia Customer Service | Availability |
|---|---|
| Phone Support | Unknown |
| Email Support | |
| Support Tickets | |
| Live Chat | Paid plans |
| Dedicated Support Representative | |
| Knowledge Base or Help Center | |
| Videos & Tutorials | |
| Company Blog | |
| Social Media |
Podia has a very comprehensive help center, which offers 400+ articles and walkthroughs for everything from adding an avatar to setting up your website. A company blog is available with helpful articles, and the company maintains profiles on X/Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
Overall, users are pleased with Podia’s customer service, as are we — which is why we give it a 4.7/5.
| User Reviews4.1 |
|---|
| User Feedback 4.0 |
| Review Site Aggregate 4.1 |
Overall, Podia ranks highly among its users, although there are a handful of complaints. Podia receives 4.6/5 (based on 100+ reviews) on GetApp and 3.6/5 (based on 60+ reviews) on Trustpilot.
Based on user feedback, we calculated our own score of 4.1/5 for Podia’s user reviews.
Some of the criticisms of Podia include:
It’s much easier to find praise for Podia, with users lauding the platform for:
Podia offers producers of digital content a compelling alternative to Patreon’s model of membership-based crowdfunding. Podia’s all-in-one model allows you to easily create, market, and sell your content from a single platform.
For high-volume sellers, a flat monthly fee and no transaction costs is a great deal. However, creators that aren’t making sales may find the flat-monthly rate to be a bit hard to swallow.
Podia offers great customer support, has solid user reviews, and even offers a free plan with limited features that allow you to test the platform to see if it’s right for you. There are few limitations on content that can be sold, getting started takes minutes, and you can easily add your products, create a website, or start blogging.
Overall, we rate Podia 4.7 out of 5 stars and highly recommend it for content creators. While Podia won’t work for businesses that want to raise funds for their startups or business projects, it’s a great platform for creators who want to create and sell courses, charge for webinars, sell recurring memberships, and cash in on digital content.
We spend hours researching and evaluating each crowdfunding platform that we review at Merchant Maverick, placing emphasis on key characteristics to generate our product ratings.
When rating crowdfunding platforms, we use a rubric that looks at terms and fees, project qualifications, application process, sales and advertising transparency, customer service, and user reviews. We weigh each section differently to calculate the total star rating.
Each section is further broken down into granular, weighted subsections, in which we look at specific attributes, such as campaign durations, supported project types, time to funding, application processing times, and platform fees. Learn more about how we rate crowdfunding platforms.
The Merchant Maverick Seal of Approval 🏆
Podia |
|---|
After hours of in-depth research and evaluation, we can confidently recommend this brand to our readers. Get started today and see Podia for yourself.
The Merchant Maverick Seal of Approval 🏆
Podia |
|---|
After hours of in-depth research and evaluation, we can confidently recommend this brand to our readers. Get started today and see Podia for yourself.
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The vendors that appear on this list were chosen by subject matter experts on the basis of product quality, wide usage and availability, and positive reputation.
Merchant Maverick’s ratings are editorial in nature, and are not aggregated from user reviews. Each staff reviewer at Merchant Maverick is a subject matter expert with experience researching, testing, and evaluating small business software and services. The rating of this company or service is based on the author’s expert opinion and analysis of the product, and assessed and seconded by another subject matter expert on staff before publication. Merchant Maverick’s ratings are not influenced by affiliate partnerships.
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Our team of experts spends hours on every review so that we can find the best companies to recommend to our readers. Podia made the cut.
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