Systeme.io is a free Podia alternative that has everything you need to promote and sell your products and services
Start free and stay free
Unlike Podia’s 14-day free trial, the systeme.io Free plan never expires. There are no catches, and no credit card details are required
Save up to $1,164/year
That's if you choose our Unlimited plan with unlimited pages and funnels over Podia’s premium Earthquaker plan
Sell anything on systeme.io
Podia is built to sell digital products. Systeme.io lets you sell unlimited physical and digital products, even on our free plan
Podia is a platform for selling online courses, digital downloads, and memberships. Its Starter plan costs $39 per month, and the Shaker plan at $89 per month adds the affiliate program. Podia does not include sales funnels or a standalone marketing automation builder. systeme.io covers courses, memberships, and digital downloads alongside a funnel builder, email marketing, automation, affiliates, and 0%-fee checkout — starting at $0. If you're on Podia's $89/month plan primarily for affiliate management, systeme.io includes affiliates on its free plan.
| Feature | systeme.io | Podia |
|---|---|---|
| Price | FREE | $39/month |
| Contacts | 2,000 | 5,000 |
| Sales funnels | Yes | Yes |
| Deadline funnels | Yes | No |
| Emails sent | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Email campaigns | Yes | Yes |
| Blogs | Yes | Yes |
| Blogs posts | Unlimited | Yes |
| Courses | 1 | Yes |
| Students | 500 | 1,000 |
| Automation rules | Yes | No |
| Workflows | Yes | No |
| Tags | Yes | Yes |
| File storage space | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| 1-Click upsells | Yes | Yes |
| Order bumps | Yes | Yes |
| Stripe integration | Yes | Yes |
| Paypal integration | Yes | Yes |
| A/B tests | Yes | No |
| Coupon codes | Yes | Yes |
| Run your own affiliate program | Yes | $89/month |
| Custom domains | 1 | Yes |
| Support 7 days a week | Yes | Yes |
Move faster with systeme.io
You'll waste time and money getting 3rd party integrations to automate your marketing using Podia. Systeme.io has built-in workflows and automation rules that can be connected to every single feature we have to offer
Sell more with funnels
Podia doesn't have a dedicated funnel builder. You'll have to rely on complex, time-consuming workarounds to build one on their platform. Systeme.io's funnel builder lets you create an entire sales funnel based on proven templates in just 3 clicks
Systeme.io has no extra costs
With Podia, you'll pay for integrations like deadline funnels or pay a whopping $89/month to run your affiliate program. Both of these features are readily available in systeme.io for free
Don't limit your business
Unlike systeme.io, Podia doesn't have email subject line testing or webpage A/B testing to help you optimize your marketing. Simply put, you should choose systeme.io if you want a full stack of marketing features that will help your business grow
Website builder
Easily set up your website in under 10 minutes.
Business automation
Save time and energy by automating your business.
Sales funnels
Create funnels easily based on proven templates.
Email marketing
Send unlimited emails and create email campaigns.
Affiliate management
Create an affiliate program, automate affiliate payouts.
Online courses
Build your online course, manage your students.
Physical products
Become a dropshipper or sell your own products.
Evergreen webinars
Run evergreen webinars to grow your audience and make sales.
Booking calendar
Book meetings directly with the built-in calendar.
Subaccounts
Manage multiple brands or clients with ease.
Pipelines
Track leads and close deals with the CRM pipeline.
Communities
Build and grow your own online community.
For most course creators and digital product sellers, yes. systeme.io's free plan covers course hosting, memberships, digital downloads, email marketing, funnels, and an affiliate program at $0 — Podia starts at $39/month with no free plan and requires the $89/month Shaker tier to access affiliates. Podia's advantage is its polished course and community experience — its student interface, discussion tools, and customer chat support are cleaner and more focused than systeme.io's broader platform. If course and community quality is your primary concern, Podia is a well-regarded dedicated platform. If you want a free plan with funnels and affiliate management included, systeme.io does more at lower cost.
Only on the Shaker plan at $89/month. The Starter plan at $39/month does not include affiliate management. Systeme.io includes a full affiliate management system on all plans including the free plan. If affiliate management is the main reason you are on Podia's higher tier, switching to systeme.io eliminates that cost entirely.
systeme.io includes several features Podia does not offer or charges extra for. The biggest differences:
- Sales funnels and deadline funnels — Podia has neither, you'd need a third-party tool.
- Built-in marketing automation and workflows — Podia does not include a standalone automation builder.
- A/B testing on email subject lines and pages — not available on Podia.
- Affiliate program included on the free plan — Podia charges $89/month for this on its Shaker plan.
- Permanent free plan — Podia only offers a 14-day free trial.
Both platforms cover online courses, memberships, digital downloads, email marketing, and checkout, so the core "sell what you make" features are comparable. systeme.io's advantage is the marketing layer wrapped around those features.
Yes. Podia starts at $39/month with no free plan, and the plan that includes affiliates is $89/month. systeme.io's free plan includes affiliates, funnels, and email at $0. The Startup plan at $17/month provides a much larger platform than Podia's $39/month Starter. The live page cites up to $1,164/year in savings over Podia's Earthquaker plan.
Export your student and customer list from Podia as a CSV and import into systeme.io under Contacts. Recreate your course content in systeme.io's course builder — video content hosted elsewhere (YouTube, Vimeo, Wistia) can be embedded directly. Move digital downloads into systeme.io's product settings. Rebuild any Podia sales pages in systeme.io's funnel editor. Set up your affiliate program in systeme.io's affiliate settings. Update any checkout links and email opt-in forms to point to your systeme.io pages before switching live traffic.
Last updated: April 2026
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