If you need to be doing this, here are your options.
Movemental, agency, course platforms, or Substack—what you get, what you pay, and what only one of them gives you: the scenius and the people in it.
Considering Substack? Read our honest Substack vs Movemental guide
| Feature | Movemental | Agency | Course platforms | Substack |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cost & pricing | ||||
| Upfront cost | $1,000 | ~$175,000 | $0 | $0 |
| Ongoing cost | 10% of your content revenue | 10–20% of build cost/year (maintenance) | $39–$399/mo + 0–7.5% transaction fees | 10% of paid subscriptions + Stripe fees |
| Revenue you keep | 90% | 100% (after large upfront) | ~70–85% (after fees) | ~85–87% (after fees) |
| Time to launch | 3–4 weeks | 6–12 months | Days (self-setup) | Minutes |
| Digital playbook | ||||
| Content pipeline (existing → evergreen → courses → circulation) | Included | — | — | — |
| One home (single hub for you + work + network) | Included | Only if scoped | Subdomain or add-on domain | Subdomain or custom domain |
| Author legibility (E-E-A-T, who you are + who points to you) | Included | If included in scope | — | — |
| Content as nodes (findable, linked, structured) | Included | If SEO/strategy included | Courses only; no movement-wide graph | Newsletter/articles only; no credibility graph |
| Voice-preserving AI (your body of work, not generic) | Included | — | Generic AI tools | — |
| Platform | ||||
| You own the platform | Included | Included | — | — |
| Custom domain | Included | Included | Often (sometimes extra) | Included |
| Books, articles, courses in one place | Included | If scoped | Courses + maybe blog | Newsletter/articles only |
| You own audience data | Included | Included | — | Can export emails |
| No algorithm dependency (your site, your rules) | Included | Included | — | — |
| Network & scenius | ||||
| Peer network of movement leaders | Included | — | — | — |
| Cross-promotion & shared discovery | Included | — | — | Recommendations (algorithm-driven) |
| Credibility graph (who points to you, visible) | Included | — | — | — |
| Scenius: Alan, Brad, and the people in it | Included | — | — | — |
| Bounded ecology (curated, not a marketplace) | Included | — | — | — |
| Launch & support | ||||
| Phased onboarding (Discovery → Research → Build → Launch) | Included | Similar (project phases) | — | — |
| Content migration from existing work | Included | If scoped | Manual / limited | Manual / limited |
| Launch with content live (not empty templates) | Included | If scoped | You fill it yourself | You fill it yourself |
| Network onboarding (meet the scenius) | Included | — | — | — |
Agency, course platforms, and Substack figures from public pricing and industry reports (2024–2025). See sources.
Considering Substack? Read our honest comparison
The part they can't give you
An agency can build you a great site. Course platforms can host your courses. Substack can host your newsletter. None of them give you the scenius—the network of movement leaders who vouch for each other, cross-promote, and make credibility visible. That's the most valuable part. And it's only here, with Alan, Brad, and the people already in it.
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Sources for this comparison
- Agency costs: Custom platform/website development typically $50K–$150K+ (Clutch, GoodFirms, industry surveys); ~$175K used as representative upper range. Timeline 6–12 months, maintenance 10–20% annually.
- Course platforms: Thinkific $49–$199/mo, 0% transaction fees on paid plans. Teachable $39–$249/mo, 7.5% transaction fee on Starter, 0% on higher tiers; payment processing 2.9%+$0.30. Kajabi $89–$399/mo, no transaction fees. (Official pricing and fee pages, 2024–2025.)
- Substack: 10% of paid subscription revenue; free to publish; Stripe processing 2.9%+$0.30 per transaction. Creators can export email list. (support.substack.com, 2024–2025.)
- Movemental: Internal docs (pricing, why Movemental, credibility playbook, how it works).