Verified purchaser
Simple to use and attractive system for monetizing courses
I'm very new to the LMS scene, so I am not able to compare the usability of Teachify with other systems currently available on AppSumo. However, I can compare the feature set and the commission / fee rate.
One of the most important reasons I chose to go with Teachify is that they offer the option to have a 0% fees / commissions rate on sales through their platform at the Tier 2 and higher levels. The only other option currently making such an offer is GroupApp. GroupApp looks like a neat product, especially with the community functionality built in. However, Teachify provides unlimited storage and bandwidth on all tiers. GroupApp's highest tier only allows for 50 GB total storage. Files and videos uploaded by community members are included in that limit. Here is a quote from GroupApp when asked about this:
"Yes, it counts for videos uploaded by members. For AppSumo Deal Purchasers, you can contact support to get additional storage added to your community at a rate of $12 per month per 20GB or $10 per month billed annually per 20GB. Regular sign-ups have to upgrade their subscription to the next tier."
I could see that 50 GB storage limit filling up fast if the community is vibrant. I did not like the limit placed on uploads from GroupApp, and I also don't like that their offering on AppSumo isn't as good as it was via another marketplace. This fact and how they've responded to Sumolings when asked about this indicates to me that they don't truly value Sumolings like other offerings do.
I don't "need" the community features. Not having to think about storage space, simplicity, and ease of use are more important to me at this time in my course building and coaching journey.
Teachify's offering seems to provide us with unlimited everything. Students, uploads, storage space, courses, digital downloads, etc. The web page builder is very simple, which is perfect for me since I'm not a developer or designer. It's very difficult for me to make a website look good. I showed my wife my homepage built with Teachify and she was impressed that I made it. Teachify made it simple.
The real reason Teachify deserves 5 tacos is Lawrence, Frank, and the support team. Teachify has a Discord community that anyone can join. Lawrence and Frank are extremely active and attentive in the community. They're humble, willing to listen to Sumolings' ideas, and have a passion for their project. I'm enjoying getting to know the team.
One thing that I'm having difficulty with understanding how to use is scheduling one on one coaching sessions with students. Currently, it isn't possible to charge for coaching sessions. You can provide students that have paid for a course the option to schedule a coaching session, but you aren't able to charge for it. I need to be able to charge for coaching. Hopefully this will come in the future. I don't want to have to use Cal.com or Calendly on top of Teachify. Hopefully, Teachify can deliver and provide us with a true booking system.
Lawrence_Teachify
May 9, 2024Orin,
I'm glad we had some conversations recently, and we have learned a lot from your feedback. It's also encouraging for us to see the product review you've given us, which confirms that there are still many problems waiting for us to solve, despite the market being saturated with various solutions.
We need to be practical and consider whether our cost structure and profitability would allow us to fulfill the promise of long-term unlimited storage. To understand our costs better, let's take well-known cloud services as an example. The storage cost per GB per month is approximately US$0.025. In other words, when you pay around $12 per month, you should be able to get nearly 480GB of storage. As a SaaS startup, we should not solely determine our pricing based on costs. However, it's a reality that with software technologies advancements, people have more choices. Our service should not just be a reseller or value-added service provider for cloud service providers. We should have our strong value proposition and vision, and take a simple and effective approach to continuously realize our vision.
Therefore, while we do face many operational cost challenges, what matters more is whether our solution can solve problems for our users who appreciate us and help their businesses grow. Through this exploration, we can continue improving our solution and introducing more add-ons. With flexible and reasonable pricing, I believe we can ultimately maintain a balance with the community and achieve win-win situations.
Regarding the booking feature you mentioned, it is indeed something we value. However, we also realize that it is a complex feature that requires significant time and effort from both software engineering and UI/UX perspectives. But since it is already part of Teachify's existing features, we will undoubtedly continue improving the experience in this aspect over time, bringing more opportunities and possibilities to the community.
Once again, thank you for your encouragement and support. The process of communicating with you has been meaningful and rewarding for me and my team. I hope Teachify can assist in the growth and development of your business. Wishing you success in your ventures!