When you create online courses or digital platforms, SaaS services such as Teachable, Kajabi, Thinkific, Podia or Skool.com seem like perfect solutions: immediate, simple, without technical complications. However, behind this apparent simplicity lies a significant and often underestimated risk: the loss of real control of your business.
🚨 Teachable real case: a sudden cost increase to 76%
Starting in June 2025, Teachable will introduce drastic changes to its subscription plans, with increases of up to 76%. These changes will occur unilaterally, leaving users with no choice or negotiation.
This scenario is emblematic of the risks associated with entrusting your business to third-party platforms: your costs and terms of use can change dramatically without warning.
⚠️ The 7 invisible leaks of closed SaaS platforms
- Unpredictable cost management: sudden and unexpected increases.
- Limitations in technical choices: Limited possibility of customization.
- Lack of control over your data: data are not really yours and can be difficult to retrieve.
- Difficulty of advanced customization: Inability to create truly unique solutions.
- Ever-shrinking margins: commissions and forced upgrades reduce your earnings.
- Constraints to business growth: greater growth brings inevitable cost increases.
- Strategic dependence on third parties: You depend on others' decisions, which are often unpredictable.
🔐 What you really risk with GDPR using third-party platforms
In addition to operational and economic problems, there are also serious legal implications. SaaS platforms such as Teachable or Skool.com often process personal data of European users, so they must necessarily comply with GDPR.
In particular:
Legal responsibility: the platform user remains legally responsible to its end customers regarding compliance with the GDPR, even if it does not technically handle the data directly.
Compliance difficulties: platforms that do not provide full transparency in data management or do not allow direct and easy access to stored data can make compliance with GDPR principles such as data portability, the right to be forgotten, or transparent access to users' personal data complicated.
Localization and data transfer: if platforms use servers outside the European Union (as is often the case), there may be an international transfer of data that does not meet the GDPR's strict standards, making you subject to possible risks and economic penalties.
💡Pwhy a proprietary platform is indispensable
If your business depends entirely on external platforms, you don't really own anything. Building a proprietary platform with flexible tools such as LearnDash, FluentCRM, and Fluent Community is not just a technical choice, but an essential strategic decision to ensure operational freedom, legal security, and sustainable growth over time.
Investing in your digital platform means protecting your future, maintaining control of your data, and fully complying with privacy regulations such as GDPR, avoiding unnecessary legal and operational risks.
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