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HeartbeatvsPodia

Heartbeat is a friendly home for a small paid community with chat, events, and courses. Podia sells courses, downloads, coaching, and webinars from one simple site with email.

How Heartbeat and Podia compare

Heartbeat is a friendly place to start a paid community without a big budget. For $49 a month you get channels, threads, chat, voice rooms, DMs, unlimited courses and events, a custom domain, checkout pages, five automation workflows, and Pulse, an AI that actually sets up channels, offers, and pages for you. Grow adds unlimited workflows, DM rules, an affiliate program, and white-label email; Scale adds a branded app. For a founder with a small group who wants courses and calls next to the conversation, Heartbeat covers a lot for the price.

Podia is the all-in-one that stays friendly. Courses with drip and quizzes, digital downloads delivered the second someone pays, coaching products, events, a community with paid plans, a website with a real blog, and Podia Email with broadcasts and campaigns, all under one login and one bill. Sales tax across 230 jurisdictions, 20 plus currencies, coupons, bundles, and payment plans come standard, and Shaker and Earthquaker drop the transaction fee to zero. For a creator selling digital products, Podia removes a lot of glue.

Where they are different

Heartbeat

  • Heartbeat's landing page is the door to a private space.
  • Heartbeat emails members through workflows and a weekly digest.
  • Heartbeat's events sync to members' calendars.
  • Heartbeat charges 5% to 1.25% on payments.

Podia

  • Podia's coaching product takes payment and then hands booking to Calendly, SavvyCal, Acuity, or YouCanBookMe.
  • Podia Email sends from Podia and includes 100 to 1,000 subscribers by plan.
  • Podia's chat inbox gathers chat.
  • Podia gives one assistant on Shaker with full access.

Choose Heartbeat when a small paid community with courses, calls, and member chat is the product.

Choose Podia when courses, downloads, and paid memberships are what you sell and you want checkout, tax, and delivery handled for you.

Compare features

What's on Heartbeat and Podia

A check means that capability is available. Heartbeat and Podia are marked only when the offer is comparable, not the same product.

Site and brand

  • Workspace site
    Heartbeat: Included
    Podia: Included
  • Custom domain
    Heartbeat: Included
    Podia: Included
  • Theme and fonts
    Heartbeat: Included
    Podia: Included

Public content

  • Blog
    Heartbeat: Not included
    Podia: Included
  • Reader engagement
    Heartbeat: Not included
    Podia: Included
  • Showcase pages
    Heartbeat: Included
    Podia: Included
  • Shop pages
    Heartbeat: Not included
    Podia: Included

Audience and email

  • Audience
    Heartbeat: Included
    Podia: Included
  • Marketing emails
    Heartbeat: Included
    Podia: Included
  • Bulk email workflows
    Heartbeat: Included
    Podia: Included
  • Campaign workflows
    Heartbeat: Included
    Podia: Included

Messaging

  • Built-in chat
    Heartbeat: Included
    Podia: Included

Commerce

  • Shop payments
    Heartbeat: Included
    Podia: Included

Team

  • Admin users
    Heartbeat: Included
    Podia: Included

* Note: This table does not capture every feature of Heartbeat or Podia, and is not intended as a comprehensive list. We keep this page current, but Heartbeat or Podia may add or remove features that are not shown here.

Heartbeat vs Podia pricing

Compare plans, prices, and what it costs to get started.

  • Heartbeat

    Current plans and prices

    See what Heartbeat charges on their pricing page.

  • Podia

    Current plans and prices

    See what Podia charges on their pricing page.

Cardel: An alternative to
Heartbeat and Podia

You don't pay until you publish.

Cardel provides a home for your craft. Share and sell your work, grow your audience, and bring your community together on a site of your own.

Common questions

  • Is Cardel an alternative to Heartbeat or Podia?

    Cardel is a home for your craft: a site of your own with a blog, newsletter, shop, community, and one inbox. It can replace Heartbeat or Podia when you want your work, audience, and sales in one place. The feature list on this page shows where Heartbeat and Podia are marked.

  • Can I use Cardel with Heartbeat or Podia?

    Yes. Cardel pages can link out to other products, so you can keep Heartbeat or Podia for what it does best and bring the rest of your work to Cardel.

  • How much does Cardel cost compared with Heartbeat and Podia?

    You don't pay for Cardel until you publish. Choose Starter, Pro, or Studio when your site goes live. Heartbeat and Podia set their own prices, so check their pricing pages on this page for current plans.

  • How do I switch from Heartbeat or Podia to Cardel?

    Start with Build Your Site, set up your home, and bring your work over at your own pace. You do not have to move everything on day one.