Business
At 15–20% per lesson, the fees are easy to ignore month to month. Annualized, they're a different story.
Most commission-based booking platforms charge between 15% and 20% on every lesson transaction. The pitch is that you only pay when you earn — no upfront cost, no risk. For a coach just starting out with a handful of students, that math can work in their favor.
But for an established coach doing consistent volume, that percentage compounds into a significant annual expense — one that grows in lockstep with your success. The better you do, the more you pay.
The table below uses a 17.5% average commission rate — midpoint of the 15–20% range most platforms charge. The "you keep" column reflects what you'd retain by switching to a flat $59/month subscription instead.
* "You keep" = annual commission savings minus $708/yr (CoachCore Basic at $59/mo). Students cover Stripe processing fees separately.
The honest answer is inertia. Commission platforms handle discovery — they surface your profile to potential students who are already searching. For a coach building a client base from scratch, that visibility has real value, and the commission is the cost of that service.
The calculation changes once you have an established student base. At that point, you're paying a significant ongoing fee for a discovery service you no longer need — your students already know you. Every renewal, every package purchase, every new referral from an existing student runs through the platform and gets taxed at the same rate.
It's worth being specific about what you're paying for. Commission-based platforms typically provide:
The actual infrastructure cost of those services — processing aside — is a fraction of 17.5%. The margin funds the platform's marketplace and growth. You're subsidizing their customer acquisition whether or not it benefits you.
The breakeven point on a $59/month flat subscription versus a 17.5% commission is around $337/month in lesson revenue. Below that, the commission model is cheaper. Above it, a flat subscription saves money every single month.
The more relevant question isn't whether to switch — it's whether the platform's discovery value is worth the ongoing cost to you specifically. If most of your new students come from referrals, word of mouth, or your own outreach rather than the platform's marketplace, you're paying for something you're not using.
CoachCore charges a flat monthly subscription and gives each coach a branded booking website at their own subdomain. Students pay the coach directly — CoachCore never touches the money. Students cover the Stripe processing fee (2.9% + $0.30), so the coach receives the full lesson amount.
Setup takes under 10 minutes. There's no marketplace — CoachCore isn't a discovery tool. It's infrastructure for coaches who already have students and want to stop paying a percentage on every transaction.
Ready to stop paying commissions?
First 100 founding coaches lock in $59/month for life. Setup takes 10 minutes.