The model: a $99 course, two sales volumes, one year
Hypothetical seller: one video course at $99, paid by domestic cards. Twenty sales brings in $1,980; two hundred brings in $19,800. Card processing uses Stripe's standard US rate of 2.9% + 30c, which is also Shopify Payments' online rate on Basic. All prices were read on 30 October 2026 and exclude tax. [3][4]
| Cost line | systeme.io setup | Shopify setup |
|---|---|---|
| Platform | Free $0 (1 course, 2,000 contacts) or Startup $17/month [1] | Basic $29/month billed yearly ($348) [4] |
| Course delivery | Built in; Free lists 1 course [1] | Courses Plus app: Basic $200/year for up to 20 lessons [5] |
| Card fees | Stripe 2.9% + 30c; systeme.io lists 0% transaction fees [3][1] | Shopify Payments 2.9% + 30c on Basic [4] |
| Built in, unlimited sends [1] | Kit Free, up to 10,000 subscribers [6] | |
| Video hosting | Upload to systeme.io; unlimited storage, 2 GB per video [2] | Courses Plus lists video hosting, PDF and audio uploads, even on its Free plan [5] |
| Domain | $11.08 .com at Porkbun [7] | $11.08 .com at Porkbun [7] |
Budget at 20 sales ($1,980 revenue)
Card fees are the same on both setups: 2.9% x $1,980 = $57.42, plus 30c x 20 = $6.00, so $63.42. The difference is entirely fixed cost. [3][4]
| Line item | systeme.io Free | Shopify Basic + Courses Plus Basic |
|---|---|---|
| Platform plan | $0 | $348.00 |
| Course app | Included | $200.00 |
| Card fees | $63.42 | $63.42 |
| $0 | $0 (Kit Free) | |
| Domain | $11.08 | $11.08 |
| Year-one total | $74.50 (3.8% of revenue) | $622.50 (31.4% of revenue) |
Budget at 200 sales ($19,800 revenue)
Card fees rise to 2.9% x $19,800 = $574.20 plus 30c x 200 = $60.00, so $634.20. On systeme.io, 200 students fits the Free plan's 500-student figure in the FAQ, although the same page also says all plans include unlimited students. Many sellers will want Startup for its 5,000 contacts and 5 courses, so both columns are shown. [1]
| Line item | systeme.io Free | systeme.io Startup (monthly) | Shopify Basic + Courses Plus Basic |
|---|---|---|---|
| Platform plan | $0 | $204.00 | $348.00 |
| Course app | Included | Included | $200.00 |
| Card fees | $634.20 | $634.20 | $634.20 |
| Domain | $11.08 | $11.08 | $11.08 |
| Year-one total | $645.28 (3.3%) | $849.28 (4.3%) | $1,193.28 (6.0%) |
Costs people forget
- Lesson limits. Courses Plus Free covers up to 5 lessons; Basic covers 20; Professional at $800 a year covers 100. A 30-lesson course moves you to Professional, which would add $600 to the Shopify budgets above. [5]
- Video file sizes. systeme.io caps each video at 2 GB and recommends uploads under 100 MB for faster loading, so plan time for compression. [2]
- International buyers. Stripe adds 1.5% for international cards and 1% when currency conversion is needed. [3]
- VAT on digital sales. systeme.io adds the buyer's country VAT rate to digital products once you enable VAT, and a missing Country field defaults the rate to 0%. [9]
- Tax tools at scale. Shopify Tax is free until $100,000 in sales, then 0.35% on US orders on Basic. [8]
- Refunds. Stripe says the processing fee from the original transaction is not returned when you refund, so a refunded $99 sale still costs about $3.17. [3]
Who fits which setup
systeme.io fits a first course: no fixed platform cost on Free, built-in email and video hosting, and 0% transaction fees. Skip it if you already run a Shopify store with physical products and want one checkout for everything. [1][2]
Shopify plus a course app fits sellers who already pay for Shopify, so the $348 plan is a sunk cost; then the course costs only the app, card fees and email. Starting from zero, the fixed costs take about 31% of revenue at 20 sales. [4][5]
Checklist before you launch a paid course
- Count lessons and total video size before choosing a plan or app.
- Estimate sales honestly; at under about 30 sales a year, fixed fees dominate.
- Decide where email lives and test the welcome sequence with a real purchase.
- Turn on VAT or sales tax collection where you are registered before the first sale.
- Run one full test purchase including course access and the receipt email.
Questions before you decide
Does systeme.io take a percentage of course sales?
systeme.io's pricing page lists 0% transaction fees on Stripe or PayPal payments. You still pay the processor; Stripe's standard US rate is 2.9% + 30c per domestic card payment.
What does a Shopify course app cost?
The Courses Plus listing (by Architechpro) in the Shopify App Store showed Free for up to 5 lessons, Basic at $19.99 per month or $200 per year for up to 20 lessons, and Professional at $79.99 per month or $800 per year for up to 100 lessons.
Can systeme.io host my course videos?
Yes. systeme.io's help center says you can upload videos to your account with unlimited storage, with each video capped at 2 GB and uploads under 100 MB recommended for faster loading.
Sources & verification
Product details and prices can change. Check the linked provider before buying.
- systeme.io pricing Accessed 30 Oct 2026
- systeme.io help: host videos Accessed 30 Oct 2026
- Stripe pricing Accessed 30 Oct 2026
- Shopify pricing Accessed 30 Oct 2026
- Shopify App Store: Courses Plus listing Accessed 30 Oct 2026
- Kit pricing Accessed 30 Oct 2026
- Porkbun: domain name pricing Accessed 30 Oct 2026
- Shopify help: Shopify Tax pricing Accessed 30 Oct 2026
- systeme.io help: how VAT is managed in systeme.io Accessed 30 Oct 2026
Sources link directly to providers. Product buttons may use separately labeled affiliate links. Read our disclosure.