Chapters vs Tevello
Chapters and Tevello both sell courses through your store's native Shopify checkout. The real difference is when you pay: Tevello is a flat $29 a month from day one, while Chapters has no monthly fee — we earn 5% only when a course actually sells, capped at $29 a month.
Free to install · No monthly fee · 5% only when you sell, capped at $29/month
The short version
Tevello is a well-reviewed, all-inclusive course and community app at a flat $29/month, and if you want membership communities or you're already selling steadily, that flat fee is simple and predictable. Chapters takes the opposite approach: install free, pay nothing until a course, exam, or certificate actually sells, then a 5% commission that's capped at $29 a month — so you never pay more than Tevello's flat fee, and often less. If you're launching your first course, still building your library, or your sales fluctuate month to month, the free-until-you-sell model keeps your costs at zero while you get there. Both apps sell through native Shopify checkout, so either way your students buy on your own store.
Side by side
The same job — selling courses on Shopify — priced two very different ways.
| Chapters | Tevello | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Free to install, no monthly fee. 5% commission on course, exam, retake, and paid-certificate sales — capped at $29/month. Billed on your normal Shopify invoice. | Single paid plan at $29/month with a 14-day free trial (free Development plan for dev stores). No per-sale fees — all features in one subscription. |
| Monthly cost at $0 in course sales | $0 | $29 |
| Monthly cost at $500 in course sales | $25 (5% of $500) | $29 |
| Monthly cost at $2,000 in course sales | $29 (commission capped) | $29 |
| Video hosting | Included on a global CDN — no Vimeo or Wistia needed. 30 GB storage free, then $0.16/GB/month automatically; 300 GB student streaming free each month, then $0.08/GB. Signed expiring URLs, per-student watermark, copy/print blocking. | Native hosting included: 100 GB storage and 500 GB monthly bandwidth by default; additional capacity at additional cost on request (rate not published). External YouTube/Vimeo/Wistia embeds don't count against the limits. |
| Exams & certificates | Quizzes (7 auto-graded types), graded assignments, timed exams with retakes and randomized pools, standalone sellable exams, certificates with public verification pages, optional paid certificates. | Quizzes and certificates included, alongside community-driven challenges. |
| Where students learn | A branded student portal on your own domain (/apps/courses) that students can install to their phone's home screen. | A members area with customizable visibility settings, plus communities with configurable privacy levels. |
| Checkout | Courses sell as native Shopify products at your own checkout, with instant enrollment on payment — including guest checkout. Multi-currency supported. | Integrates with native Shopify checkout for purchases — no redirect to an external platform. |
Tevello details as of August 2026, per their public Shopify App Store listing and pricing page. Costs shown are app fees only; Shopify's own payment processing fees apply equally to both. Always confirm current details on the official pages.
Why the model matters
Flat pricing isn't a flaw — it's simple and predictable, and Tevello is upfront that all features are included in one subscription. The question is timing. Most course businesses spend their first months recording, editing, and building an audience before revenue arrives, and a subscription bills through all of it. A commission doesn't.
Month 1–3 · Building, $0 in sales
Launch month · $500 in course sales
Growth month · $2,000 in course sales
App fees only — Shopify's own payment processing fees apply equally either way.
What's in the box
No tiers and no feature paywalls. The free install is the whole product: unlimited courses, unlimited lessons, unlimited students.
Hosting and streaming on a global CDN are built in — signed expiring URLs, a per-student watermark, and copy/print blocking, with no separate video host to pay for.
Timed exams with randomized question pools and paid retakes — and exams can sell standalone as their own Shopify products, not just as course finals.
Certificates come with public verification pages anyone can check — and you can even sell the certificate itself as a paid add-on.
Chapters and lessons mix video, text, and live Zoom sessions — with 7 auto-graded quiz types, graded assignments, and drip by date, days, or sequence.
Students learn at /apps/courses on your store's domain, in your branding — and they can install the portal to their phone's home screen.
Seat caps, access windows, bundles, compare-at pricing, and multi-currency at checkout — with an Insights dashboard and GDPR webhooks built in.
To be fair
Tevello is a genuinely well-regarded app: as of August 2026 its listing shows a 5.0 rating across 671 reviews, it carries the Built for Shopify badge, and its single $29 plan includes unlimited courses, members, and communities along with memberships, subscriptions, drip content, quizzes, certificates, and bundles. It also ships larger default video allowances than we do — 100 GB of storage and 500 GB of monthly bandwidth included — and lets you embed YouTube, Vimeo, or Wistia videos without counting against those limits.
Tevello may be the better fit if community is the heart of your offer — its membership communities, challenges, and subscription tools go further than what Chapters does today — or if you simply prefer one fixed, predictable bill and you're already selling comfortably past the point where the two apps cost the same. If instead you want exams, verifiable certificates, and a cost that stays at zero until revenue shows up, that's the corner we've built Chapters for.
FAQ
Chapters is free to install with no monthly fee and no plans or tiers. You pay a 5% commission only when a course, exam, retake, or paid certificate actually sells — capped at $29 a month — and in a month with no sales you pay nothing. Video hosting is included, with 30 GB of storage and 300 GB of monthly student streaming free. See the full pricing breakdown.
As of August 2026, per Tevello's public listing and pricing page, Tevello is a single paid plan at $29 per month with a 14-day free trial (plus a free Development plan for development stores). Their pricing page states they don't charge fees per course or on your sales, and their default video allowance is 100 GB of storage with 500 GB of monthly bandwidth. Always confirm current pricing on their official pages.
The pricing model. Both apps sell courses through native Shopify checkout, but Tevello is a flat $29/month subscription from day one, while Chapters has no subscription at all — we take 5% only when you sell, capped at $29/month. The break-even is $580/month in course sales: below that, Chapters costs less; above it, both cost the same $29. Feature-wise, Chapters leans into exams, verifiable certificates, and secure video; Tevello leans into communities, memberships, and subscriptions.
Yes. Chapters courses sell as native Shopify products at your own store's checkout — with your payment methods, your multi-currency settings, and instant enrollment the moment payment lands, including guest checkout. Students then learn in a branded portal on your own domain that they can install to their phone's home screen.
There's no automated migration between course apps, so switching means rebuilding: install Chapters free, upload your videos (hosting is included — no separate video host needed), recreate your chapters, lessons, quizzes, and certificates, and publish — each course becomes a native Shopify product. Because Chapters has no monthly fee, you can build and test everything alongside your current setup and only move students over when you're ready. Our setup guide walks through it, and chapters@pixipace.com reaches a human if you get stuck.
Install Chapters free from the Shopify App Store and build your first course today — you won't pay a cent until it sells.
Install FreeFree to install · No monthly fee · 5% only when you sell, capped at $29/month
Tevello is a trademark of its respective owner. Chapters is not affiliated with or endorsed by Tevello. Comparison details were retrieved from public sources in August 2026 and may change — always confirm current pricing on the official pages.