Developing a course may be a great way to monetize your website, but finding the best online course platform to create it isn’t always the easiest task in the world.
With the online learning industry said to be worth almost $4 billion, not only do increasing numbers of creators see the value of creating courses and getting in on the act but so too are companies looking to grab a slice of that $4 billion by creating a wealth of different online course builders.
While this certainly means you’ve got plenty of options to choose from, the sheer number of those options can make deciding which one to use; however, it feels like a complicated, confusing, and, let’s be honest, pretty overwhelming process.
That’s why I’ve put this guide together.
Over the years, I’ve created multiple profitable online courses as part of the blog monetization strategy for my multi-million dollar content website portfolio, so you could say I’ve learned a thing or two about what truly separates the best online course platforms from the rest.
Below, I’ll use that knowledge and experience to share with you the top ten online course builders currently on the market today, outlining what’s great about them, what’s not so great, and what you need to know to choose the right platform for you.
What to Look for When Choosing the Best Online Course Platform?
The following is the main criteria I used when making my top ten choices. Each of these should be top of your list of considerations when choosing the perfect platform.
● Ease of Use
Whether you’re building a course, launching a webinar, or doing just about anything to build and grow your business, ease of use should always be a top priority when determining what software to use.
Remember, these tools are designed to help you launch your course. So if the navigation is confusing, the course-building features too confusing, and the overall process of managing your course too difficult – that’s only going to make things more time-consuming and frustrating than it needs to be.
In other words, the easier a platform is to use, the better.
● Features and Teaching Options
The type, of course, you want to create will play a big role in determining what features you need from your online course builder.
You may want to offer quizzes, use video content, or give students the ability to submit assignments for feedback.
This is why it’s important to consider what type, of course, you want to create first, then pick a platform that has the features you need to do that.
When it came to picking my top ten, I often looked at course builders with the mindset that the more features they offered, the better, though the quality of the features themselves also played a big role.
● Costs and Fees
Nobody wants to spend over the odds for anything, especially when the product or service you’re buying is designed to help you make money.
That’s why I’ve listed course creation tools at various price points so that you can find the one that best suits your budget.
Payment processing fees and other charges can also add up, so don’t forget to consider the true cost of any plan you’re considering before you buy-in.
● Third-Party Integrations
Third-party integrations enable you to do more when it comes to marketing and managing your online course business.
You could, for example, connect to one of the best email marketing platforms to keep in touch with students or sync your course builder with your preferred Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software to improve the overall efficiency of your business.
Top 6 Online Course Platforms
Rummaging the internet to find the best online course platforms could be tedious and confusing for you, with so many online ads seeking your attention. Here, I have curated some of the best online course platforms for you. Just scroll down below.
1. Thinkific
Thinkific really is the ultimate course builder package for both beginners and pros alike. The flexible pricing options you can offer to your students combine with zero percent fees to make it ideal for making a truly profitable online course business.
Thinkific tops my list of the year’s all-around best online course platforms due to its exceptional user-friendliness and wealth of features.
Despite some limitations on its lower-priced plans, it remains a firm favorite of mine, thanks to the wonderful drag-and-drop course builder that makes it easy to build engaging, interactive courses with zero experience or technical know-how.
Combine this with the ability to offer live lessons in real-time, drip-scheduling of content, and zero payment processing fees, and what you’ve got here is the perfect course builder for both novices and experienced users alike.
Key Features:
- Drag-and-drop course builder
- Customizable course templates
- Video content
- Content drip scheduling
- Assessments
- Certificates
- Live lessons
- Subscriptions and memberships
- Coupons.
Pricing:
If you’re on a limited budget, you can use Thinkific’s basic free plan to create up to three courses with unlimited users.
This free plan also includes:
- Drag-and-drop builder
- Full eCommerce tools
- Customizable templates
- Email and phone support
- Access to the Thinkific App Store for integrations and added functionality.
However, it lacks some key features, such as multiple payment options.
To access those, you’ll need to upgrade to one of the following plans:
| PLAN NAME | PLAN DESCRIPTION | PLAN PRICE |
| Basic | Includes everything in the free plan, plus: Live chat support Custom domains Coupons and promotions Drip content One-to-one student email. | $39 p/m |
| Pro | Includes everything in the basic plan plus: Priority support Offer private and hidden courses Subscriptions and memberships with flexible prices Course completion certificates Communities Live lessons Advanced course-building features. | $79 p/m |
Pros and cons of thinkific
Pros
- No fees for processing payments
- Ability to offer a combination of on-demand and live-streaming lessons
- No payment waiting periods. Access the money you earn as soon as you earn it.
Cons
- The $39 Basic Plan lacks a lot of useful features, such as the ability to create memberships and set assignments.
- No tools for marketing your course.
How to Get Started With Thinkific?
1. Head to Thinkific.com and click ‘Get Started Free’
2. Enter your name, email, and password to create an account
3. Start the set-up process by providing details about your course business and first course.
4. Create an instructor profile
5. Answer questions about your business and click ‘Finish’
6. Use the ‘Get Started’ wizard to explore Thinkific and build your first course.
2. Kajabi
Kajabi’s complete digital monetization platform may be too much for users who only want the course features, but it’s perfect for anyone looking to create a full online business from scratch, all without signing up to multiple platforms.
Kajabi is a fully online platform designed to help you monetize your knowledge in a number of different ways.
As well as offering quality podcast hosting, membership sites, and tools for starting a profitable online coaching business, the company also offers a complete suite of tools for building monetized online courses.
What you get here is a package of tools to help you create a website around your course, utilize email marketing, and gain insights into how your business is growing through detailed analytics, making this the perfect platform for building an entire online business in one place.
Key Features:
- Customizable course templates
- Mini-courses
- Stripe and PayPal integrations
- Mobile app for students
- Integrations with CRM, analytics, and email marketing platforms
- Customizable course website
- Analytics
- Sales funnels.
Pricing
Given how many different features Kajabi offers, it’s no surprise to find that its plans are among the most expensive on the market.
After your 14-day free trial runs out, you’ll need to pay for one of the following three plans:
| PLAN NAME | PLAN DESCRIPTION | PLAN PRICE |
| Basic | 3 x products 3 x pipelines Unlimited landing pages Unlimited marketing emails 10,000 contacts Webinars and events Assessments. | $190 p/m |
| Growth | Everything in the Basic plan plus: 15 x products 15 x pipelines 25,000 contacts Remove Kajabi branding 24/7 chat support. | $159 p/m |
| Pro | Everything in the Growth plan plus: 100 x products 100 x pipelines 100,000 contacts Code editor. | $319 p/m |
Pro and cons of Kajabi
Pros
- Features tools to build your own website and add multiple monetization options to it
- No payment processing fees
- Landing pages and email marketing tools to help you attract students and grow your business.
Cons
- More expensive than most other course builders
- A wealth of options make it less beginner-friendly than other course builders.
How to Get Started With Kajabi?
- Visit Kajabi.com and click ‘Start Your Free Trial’
- Sign up with your name and email address
- Enter your card details to start the free trial (don’t forget to cancel if you don’t want to pay for a service)
- Log in to your dashboard and click ‘Courses’ to build your first course.
3. Teachable
For premium features without premium pricing, look no further than Teachable, a beginner-friendly platform that packs a lot of value into budget-friendly plans which offer all the features you need to create a successful online course business
If the last two platforms’ high price tags were too far outside your budget, you might find Teachable a solid, affordable alternative.
Despite offering some of the lowest pricing of any course builder, Teachable doesn’t compromise when it comes to offering high-quality course-creation tools.
With options to offer both on-demand lessons and real-time live coaching, student engagement features such as comments and quizzes, and customizable completion certificates, Teachable is a great platform for building strong relationships with your students without spending over the odds.
Key Features:
- Easy-to-use drag-and-drop course builder
- Self-paced, cohort-based, and live coaching options
- Customizable sales and checkout pages
- Integration with MailChimp, ConvertKit, Google Analytics, and other third-party platforms
- Comments
- Quizzes
- Completion certificates.
Pricing:
Teachable has one of the better free plans out there. Although it’s still limited in features and comes with a somewhat steep $1 + 10% fee per transaction, all of the following features do make it easy to build an online course for free:
- 1 x admin user
- 1 x course
- Unlimited students
- The course website and website builder
- Integrated payment processing
- Referral marketing
- Email marketing.
If that’s not enough for you, you can upgrade to one of the following plans:
| PLAN NAME | PLAN DESCRIPTION | PLAN PRICE |
| Basic | All the features from the free plan, plus: 5% per transaction fee 2 x admin users Unlimited courses Custom domains Third-party integrations. | $29 p/m |
| Pro | All the features of the Basic plan, plus: 0% transaction fees 5 x admin users Affiliate marketing Advanced reporting Priority support. | $99 p/m |
Pros and Cons of Teachable
Pros
- Create unlimited courses
- Accept payments in 130 currencies via PayPal, Google Pay, Apple Pay, and more
- In-depth analytics to monitor your success.
Cons
- Payment processing fees are quite high on the lower-priced plans
- Creating a course takes longer with Teachable than other platforms.
How to Get Started With Teachable?
- Head to Teachable.com and click ‘Start For Free’
- Add your name, email address, and password to create an account
- Complete the onboarding survey
- Login to your dashboard and click ‘Courses’ followed by ‘New Course’ to start creating.
4. Podia
While online courses are what Podia does best, you can also use the platform to sell eBooks, offer live coaching, run webinars, and more, making it a great all-in-one solution for starting a successful online brand.
Teachable may be the most affordable platform, but if even that platform’s low costs are still outside your budget, consider using Podia instead.
My pick for the title of best free online course platform, the all-inclusive free plan, gives you the ability to create one course with its own website, offer webinars, and more, all without investing any of your own money.
The only downside is that the 8% per transaction fees on this free plan are a little steep. However, if you’re looking to try your hand at creating courses, it’s a great place to start and the income you do make can eventually help you upgrade to a plan with zero percent transaction fees.
Key Features:
- Create text, image, audio, and video content
- Content drip-scheduling
- Sell course bundles
- Pre-sale options
- Pre-launch courses
- Customizable course templates.
Pricing:
If those 8% transaction fees are too off-putting for you, the following affordable plans may be a better option:
| PLAN NAME | PLAN DESCRIPTION | PLAN PRICE |
| Mover | No transaction fees Unlimited courses Unlimited live coaching Unlimited downloads Email marketing features Build communities around your courses. | $33 p/m |
| Shaker | Everything in the Mover plan plus: Affiliate program for your course Create unlimited webinars | $75 p/m |
Pros and Cons of Podia
Pros
- Offers a large range of third-party integrations, including top email marketing tools, analytics platforms, appointment scheduling tools, and more
- Includes embeddable content to help you sell your courses off-platform
- Upsell opportunities through digital downloads, live coaching, and more.
Cons
- 8% transaction fees on the free plan are excessive
- Only integrates with PayPal or Stripe for accepting payments.
How to Get Started With Podia?
- Visit Podia.com and click ‘Sign Up Free’
- Create an account
- Select ‘Online Courses’ along with any other tools you want to use
- Click ‘Create the first course’ to get started.
5. LearnWorlds
Sharing your knowledge and experience with the world shouldn’t be complicated, which is precisely what makes LearnWorld so good. Even if you have zero technical know-how, you’ll have no problem making the most of its extensive range of intuitive features
If you were paying attention earlier when I discussed the most important things to consider when choosing an online course creation platform, you’ll know that I prioritize ease of use above almost everything else.
That’s the main reason why I love LearnWorlds so much.
Designed with beginners in mind, the drag-and-drop course builder is one the easiest I’ve ever used, with hundreds of beautifully-designed templates that can be fully customized at the click of a button.
Combine this with some excellent marketing automation features such as email marketing integrations, conversion-optimized landing pages, and more, and you’ve got everything you need to create a successful course, even if you’ve never done it before.
Key Features:
- Drag-and-drop course builder
- Attractive themes for your course player
- Automatically generate transcripts from your video content
- Add interactive features to your video content
- Video interaction analytics
- Landing pages and marketing features
- Assessments
- Question banks
- Branded digital certificates.
Pricing:
LearnWorlds offers a generous 30-day free trial so that you can give all of their services a test run before signing up for one of the following paid plans:
| PLAN NAME | PLAN DESCRIPTION | PLAN NAME |
| Starter | $5 per course sale fee 1 x admin Unlimited paid courses Three-page website 4 x payment gateways Popup builder Coupons Basic integrations. | $24 p/m |
| Pro | Includes everything in the Starter plan, plus: Zero transaction fees 5 x admins Unlimited free and paid courses Unlimited landing pages Unlimited pages on your purse website Customizable course player Customizable checkout pages Customizable certificates. | $79 p/m |
| Learning Center | Includes everything in the Pro Plan, plus: 20 x custom user roles White-label options Interactive videos Zoom integration Course insight reports. | $249 p/m |
Pros and Cons of LearnWorlds
Pros
- A 30-day free trial is longer than most other platform’s free trials, giving you longer to test out the service
- A built-in social network for your students to communicate with you and each other
- Some of the most attractive course templates and player themes around.
Cons
- No free plan is available
- $5 per transaction fee on the Starter Plan may be too much for some users.
How to Get Started With LearnWorlds?
- Visit LearnWorlds.com and click ‘Get Started Free’
- Enter your email address and a name for your school to start your 30-day free trial
- Create a password
- Set the time zone, language, and currency for your course
- Select a template and begin customizing it to create your course.
6. Learndash
LearnDash may be at the top-end of the pricing scale, but it's an excellent choice for maximizing your course revenues thanks to its flexible pricing models, refund protection, and renewal reminders for students.
There’s a whole host of beginner-friendly course builders out there, but let’s be honest, they sometimes lack the sophistication and advanced tools you may need if you’re already an experienced pro.
That’s where LearnDash comes into its own.
Though newcomers may not find it to be the most intuitive platform on the market, the ability to structure course content for maximum profit and competitive rates, combined with advanced quiz creation tools, assessments, and more, will hold a lot of appeal for anyone serious about making some real money from their course creation business.
Key Features:
- Custom-branded learning portals
- Drag-and-drop course builder
- Advanced quiz features
- Dynamic content delivery
- Drip-feed content
- Badges and certificates
- Assignments
- Student leaderboards.
Pricing:
As a company focused on advanced-level course creators, LearnDash’s rates are pretty high.
There’s no free trial, either, which means that if you want to use LearnDash, you’ll have to pay for one of the following three plans:
| PLAN NAME | PLAN DESCRIPTION | PLAN PRICE |
| Basic | 1 x site license Unlimited courses Unlimited users Course content protection Drip-feed lessons Free integrations. | $159 p/m |
| Plus | Everything in the Basic plan, plus an in-built student management solution and upto 10 site licenses. | $189 p/m |
| Pro | Everything in the Pro plan, plus up to 25 site license’s. | $329 p/m |
Pros and Cons of Learndash
Pros
- Compatible with up to 300 payment gateways when used with WooCommerce
- Extensive range of third-party integrations
- No payment processing fees.
How to Get Started With LearnDash?
- Visit LearnDash.com and click ‘Get LearnDash’
- Select your pricing plan and click ‘Buy Now’
- Enter your billing and account information and buy your preferred plan
- From your dashboard, click ‘Create New Course’ to start building your course.
Top 6 Online Learning Platforms
1. Udemy
Marketplace platforms like Udemy take the hard work out of marketing your course thanks to their extensive existing audience. If you love creating courses but hate all the marketing work, this one is well worth a look
Even if you know nothing about building an online course, there’s a good chance you’ve already heard of Udemy.
Boasting 35 million users and over 130,000 existing courses, it’s undoubtedly the most popular online learning platform in the world, which is precisely what makes it such a good choice for course creators who don’t yet have an existing audience.
After creating your course for free, you can promote it to Udemy’s enormous in-built audience or use your own codes and coupons to earn more with each sale.
The best part is that Udemy’s own Marketplace Insights tool will tell you how much demand there is for any given topic, making it easier to decide the most profitable subject to focus on.
Key Features:
- Video, audio, and text lessons
- Quizzes
- Subtitles
- Completion certificates
- Q&As
- Notes
- Student reviews
- Instructor announcements
- One-to-one student-teacher messaging.
Pricing:
Udemy doesn’t have a typical pricing structure. It’s free to sign-up and create a course, with a percentage of your profits from each sale going back to Udemy.
What that percentage is, it depends on how students find your course.
If they’re already within the Udemy system and find your course by searching, you’ll earn 37% of the revenue and Udemy keeps the rest.
If students use your own code or referral link, you’ll keep 97% of the revenue.
Pros and Cons of Udemy
Pros
- Student reviews are a great way to grow your business and increase your popularity
- In-built payment processing avoids the need to integrate with Stripe
- Extensive range of teaching methods and student engagement features.
Cons
- Basic information for course creators on things like how to create a course, set up payments, etc. is difficult to find, which can make for a frustrating experience
- Thanks to their low course costs and high commission fees, Udemy won’t make you as much money as other platforms.
How to Get Started on Udemy?
- Visit Udemy.com and click ‘Teach on Udemy’
- Click ‘Get Started’
- Create an account by entering your name, email, and password
- Complete the onboarding questionnaire
- Click ‘Create Your Course’ to get started.
2. Skillshare
Finding ways to make a solid income from artistic talents is always a challenge for creative professionals. Skillshare makes it that much easier by putting your talents in front of millions of learners who are every bit as passionate about creativity as you are.
While Udemy may be the industry leader in online learning platforms, Skillshare isn’t far behind.
The company has over 12 million registered users who pay a monthly membership to access courses on a whole host of creative pursuits, including art, design, writing, and more.
While subjects such as finance and technology may be better off using other platforms, anyone looking to turn their passion into profit through means other than starting a successful blog will find a lot to like about Skillshare.
Key Features:
- Course planning tools
- Video uploads
- SEO features
- Course cover images
- In-depth teacher profiles
- Student referrals
- Teacher announcements.
Pricing:
As an online learning platform, there are no monthly fees to pay with Skillshare; instead, you can earn royalties and referral revenue.
30% of all student membership fees get put into a teacher pool. Royalties are then paid to teachers depending on how many minutes of content was watched by students.
In other words, if your content makes up 10% of all the combined minutes watched across YouTube, you earn 10% of the royalty pool.
If students sign-up for Skillshare via your referral link, you’ll earn 60% of their first subscription payment for a membership.
Pros and Cons of Skillshare
Pros
- Focuses on short-form classes, which makes it easier to produce content
- Excellent tutorials and guides for beginners
- Detailed teacher profiles.
How to Get Started with Skillshare
- Head to Skillshare.com/teach and click ‘Apply’
- Complete the application process and wait to be approved
- Upon approval, log in to your dashboard to begin building your first course.
3. Coursera
The high caliber of its course creators and focus on legitimate, accredited qualifications make Coursera stand out as a learning platform like no other. Though not for everyone, it really is the absolute best for educators.
If you’re an independent creator or solopreneur, then I have some bad news for you:
Coursera may not be the one for you.
If, however, you’re looking for the best way to help your educational establishment or private enterprise generate revenue by offering professional qualifications online, then Coursera is a perfect choice.
Offering a complete Learning Management System, Coursera can integrate with your establishment’s existing web presence to deliver accredited courses to a huge global audience.
Key Features:
- Curriculum development
- Hands-on course production support
- Content maintenance
- Free course migration from other tools
- In-depth reporting.
Pricing:
Given the unique nature of its service, Coursera doesn’t advertise its prices. Instead, it offers bespoke services such as content creation and management, for which it agrees to a fixed rate with its partners.
Pros and Cons of Coursera
Pros
- Partners with some of the biggest universities and companies in the world, ensuring a reputation for quality learning among students
- Offers hands-on support so that most of the hard work is done for you
- Claims to reach an audience of over 102 million learners worldwide.
Cons
- Not suitable for independent creators
- The lack of pricing information makes it difficult to determine a budget.
How to Get Started with Coursera?
- Visit partnerships.coursera.org and click ‘Get Started’
- Scroll down to Industry Partners and click ‘Contact’
- Fill in the form and submit it
- Wait to hear back from a Coursera representative about working with the platform.
4. MasterClass
Masterclass.com is an elite platform offering high-quality sources from celebrity names. This exclusive club may be tough to get into, but if you’ve got the credentials, it could be a major earner.
If you’ve consumed any kind of media in the last few years, there’s no way you could have escaped MasterClass‘s extensive advertising campaign.
The company built its reputation by promoting classes taught by celebrities and leading names from a wide range of industries.
While that may rule them out for newcomers, if you’ve already established a credible reputation for yourself via podcasting or blogging, you may be able to get your content out there on one of the most popular learning platforms around.
Key Features:
Masterclass offers bespoke course creation and hosting tools, collaborating with their high-profile instructors to tailor to their needs.
Pricing:
Though there’s little information out there about how much Masterclass.com pays its instructors, one piece by The Hollywood Reporter noted that instructors get a $100,000 upfront payment plus 30% of the revenue they generate.
Pros and Cons of MasterClass
Pros
- Masterclass.com invest heavily in advertising, bringing in substantial numbers of new learners who could potentially engage in your content.
- The nature of being on a celebrity platform can boost your reputation as an industry leader
- Offers a bespoke service tailored to course creators needs.
Cons
- Incredibly difficult to become a course creator
- Little information exists about being an instructor on MasterClass.
5. EdX
EdX’s biggest appeal is its flexible course infrastructure and large number of third-party integrations, making it possible to create unique, highly-engaging course content that delivers top value for students.
From Berkely to Harvard and practically every major university in between – EdX partners with leading teaching institutions to offer accredited degrees and high-quality Continuing Professional Development (CPD) courses.
While this makes it incredibly difficult to partner with them, their robust learning management system is ideal for accredited learning institutions.
Key Features:
- Content creation tools
- Third-party integrations
- Course data
- Dedicated IP
- Stackable credentials
- Credit pathways
- Program options.
Pricing:
EdX doesn’t make its pricing information publicly available as it offers bespoke plans for each of its partners.
Pros and Cons of EdX
Pros
- Innovative program management tools
- Strategic content guidance tailored to your institution
- Multiple course tracks enable increased revenue opportunities.
Cons
- Not suitable for independent creators
- The lack of pricing information makes it hard to determine if they’re a good fit for your institution.
How to Get Started With EdX?
- Visit partnerships.edx.org/ and complete the application form. An EdX representative will get in touch to discuss your partnership.
6. Pluralsight
No other platform in this guide is so perfectly tailored to the tech world. The sandbox environment, in particular, is a fantastic tool to help learners put their new skills to the test, while the audience engagement features help you to grow a loyal following.
Last but not least, Pluralsight is an online learning platform focusing on subjects like coding, development, and engineering.
Along with the standard video courses and assessments, Pluralsight’s main highlight is the “labs” feature which allows learners to practice the skills you’ve taught them in a secure sandbox environment.
Key Features:
- Video courses
- Learner assessments
- Sandbox labs.
Pricing:
Pluralsight doesn’t charge for using its platform and pays out commissions each month based on the amount of engagement with your course.
Pros and Cons of Pluralsight
Pros
- Dedicated sandbox environment for learners
- Sell your courses to Pluralsight’s in-built audience
- New course creators will work with an acquisition editor to help with the onboarding process.
Cons
- Tough vetting and application process to ensure quality
- Pluralsight isn’t transparent about how much it pays course creators.
How to Get Started with PluralSight?
- Visit pluralsight.com/teach and fill in the application form. Your application will be reviewed and accepted, at which point you’ll be invited to start the onboarding process.
Frequently Asked Questions About Online Course Platforms
Here is some additional information about the queries you are looking for.
What is the best free online course platform?
Podia earns its reputation as the best free online course platform thanks to its higher number of users and beginner-friendly features.
How can I create and sell a course online?
Use my guide to pick an online course platform, develop a course outline and create your content, then upload it to your chosen platform and start marketing to attract students.
What platform is better than Udemy?
Skillshare and Thinkific are among the top Udemy alternatives for creators.
What is the Best Online Course Platform to Use in 2022? My Final Verdict
To create this guide, I looked at dozens of different services to determine the 12 very best online course platforms for creators.
Now, it’s time to whittle that list down even further to determine the one single platform that’s best for you.
To do that, it pays to consider what your top priorities are.
If your budget is limited, then either Podia’s free plan or the affordable plans offered by Teachable will hold a lot of appeals.
If you’re looking for a complete package to help you integrate online courses as part of a larger online business, Kajabi is the perfect all-in-one solution.
Yet if your top priority is simply getting your hands on the best combination of features, ease-of-use, and value-for-money, look no further than the number one course builder on the market, Thinkific.
