Platforms for creating and selling online courses

Are you looking to sell online courses, but confused by the large number of online course platforms? Well, there is several ways to earn money online. In this article, I rely on my experiences in the e-learning industry to highlight the best online learning platforms and help you narrow down your list.

To help you narrow down your field of choice (and avoid headaches!), I've organized this article into the following categories of online course platforms:

• Autonomous platforms (ideal for solo educators, small businesses)
• All-in-one platforms (Manage your website and course site together)
• WordPress options (For those who want to keep everything in WordPress)
• Market platforms (Get a predefined market to sell online courses)
• Video platforms (if your primary goal is to sell videos)
• Small Business - Extended Enterprise (For more complex needs)
• Moodle Plug-Ins/Add-Ons (Make Moodle a sales machine)

It might seem like a no-brainer, but just having a clear idea of ​​which category above you fit into – knowing that only a small subset of online course platforms are aimed at sale of courses – will make your life MUCH easier.

🥀 The pplatforms of online training sales

These are hosted platforms for solo educators or small businesses who want to create their own turnkey branded site to sell online courses.

Also, unlike Udemy, which is discussed below in a different category, standalone online course platforms allow you full control over your user data.

Although the feature sets are relatively similar, they can be very different in their " look and feel » as well as in their desire to help course entrepreneurs succeed.

For example, by providing good resources, educational content, strong support. Be sure to check out the free trial options, if available, so you have a chance to run the tires before committing.

✔️ thinkific

Thinkific provides a truly comprehensive software solution to help you create, deliver, market and sell online courses.

Similar to Teachable below, there is a free plan, but……get this……Thinkific does not charge any transaction fees on any of its plans, paid or free.

With the App Store, you can easily integrate a wide range of other platforms to help you create more impactful learning experiences and market your courses much more effectively.

Thinkific's basic paid plan – which comes with an increase in the features you have access to – starts at $ 49 per month ($ 39, if paid annually). Definitely worth the detour.

✔️LearnWorlds

LearnWorlds seems to have a lot of momentum right now. The company positions itself as an option “ premium » which offers high interactivity, social learning tools to complement standard course content and white labeling.

The company also puts a lot of emphasis on its sales page building tools for courses – and those are indeed impressive. You can even test them without registering via a simulator provided by LearnWorlds.

You can try LearnWorlds free for 30 days (no credit card required), then pricing starts at 29 $ per month ($24, if billed annually). The company charges $5 per sale on its Starter plan, but no additional fees on its other plans.

✔️ Teachable

Teachable was one of the first platforms to jump into this category and remains one of the most popular.

It started out of frustration with Udemy (listed below) — specifically, with how Udemy controls student information and access.

In response, the Teachable team created a platform that allows you to offer online courses “on your website and control your branding, student data and pricing from one place” .

The teachable price starts at 39 $ per month ($29 if paid annually) for its basic plan. With the lowest paid plan, you still pay a 5% transaction fee on all sales.

Transaction fees disappear once you move to the next level. All plans include unlimited classes and students.

✔️ Could

Could started as “ WithCoach » and a platform that was mainly aimed at coaches.

More recently, the company has repositioned itself as a comprehensive yet easy-to-use platform for selling online courses, subscriptions, and digital downloads all in one place — and it's grown significantly.

Some of its main selling points are:

• no transaction fees (other than what you pay to your payment processor – i.e. Paypal or Stripe),
• no limits on courses or users, and
• a strong focus on affiliate marketing support of your products.

With its basic package from 39 $ per month (two months free with an annual plan), Podia seems to be picking up steam quickly.

✔️ teachery

Teachery claims to be “the only course platform that helps you create your online course content.” It seems to me that most course platforms do this, but I'll give props to Teachery for making their course creation interface particularly user-friendly.

Especially if you're just starting out, I'm not sure there's a simpler, simpler platform to use. Basically, Teachery provides you with two rock-solid lesson templates – a “ minimal » and sidebar template – and walks you through every step of the process to get your content into the template and get ready to sell effectively.

While it doesn't have as rich a feature set as some of the options here, it may be just what many course creators need to stop dreaming about having a course and get involved with it. to start.

There is a 14-day free trial (no credit card required), then the paid plan is 49 $ per month or $470 per year.

✔️Click4Course

Click4Course compares well to well-established platforms like Teachable and Thinkific and appears strong in its testing, survey, and certificate capabilities. It also offers the interesting feature of being able to configure whether a site is displayed for internal training – in which case a login screen is presented – or sales courses – in which case a catalog is presented.

There's a 30-day free trial (no credit card required) and monthly fee is $79 ($65, if paid annually), for unlimited learners, plus a 10% processing fee per course sold.

🥀 All-in-one online course platforms

This category of online course software provides everything you need to not only create and sell online courses, but also to manage your entire web presence.

All-in-one online course platforms combine elements of a web content management system (CMS) with marketing and customer relationship management (CRM) tools.

✔️ kajabi

Kajabi describes itself as "the only system you need to market, sell and distribute your knowledge online." It turns out that selling online courses is a big part of the equation.

In addition to courses, you can sell subscriptions, training portals, file downloads, and just about any other digital product you can offer.

For many people who simply want to sell an online course this may be overkill. Then again, if you don't have these things or just want to have it all under one roof, Kajabi may be just the ticket.

And Kajabi has done a lot over the past year to add new features – like a full-fledged email marketing system.

Web page builder and email capabilities are included with every plan. You can try Kajabi for 14 days for free. Once a paid plan starts, the price starts at 149 $ per month ($119 if paid annually).

✔️ Kartra

If you are really serious about running a product business then Kartra is a powerful solution. The platform gives you everything you need to create a professional-looking, feature-rich website without having to hire a designer or know coding.

Built-in features include an email platform, memberships, sales funnels, video hosting, management and tracking, lead capture, a support hub for your customers, and calendaring capability for booking and managing client appointments.

From a course perspective, Kartra will work best if you focus on video content – ​​it doesn't have the level of course creation, student management, or assessment capabilities that more video-focused platforms have. courses covered here.

But if video is your thing, and you want a ton of marketing muscle, Kartra is tough to beat. Plans are starting to $99 per mes.

✔️ NewZenler

NewZenler describes itself as “the first-ever course platform built around sales and marketing.” It seems a bit overkill, but it definitely positions itself as a Kajabi alternative at a significantly lower price.

In other words, you can build courses with it, but also run just about every other aspect of your online business, from your website to email campaigns and sales funnels to online communities. line.

This is definitely one you're going to want to check out. The platform seems to be in perpetual “beta” right now, but use the link provided here and you can avoid having to wait for a “invitation” – you can try New Zenler for free right away.

🥀 WordPress plugins for sell online training

If you are wondering how to create an online course with WordPress – and, of course, sell it – there are plenty of WordPress plugins and themes available to help you. These can be a particularly good option if you want to sell courses on your website.

Keep in mind that you will need more technical skills if you go this route. Here are my current top picks.

✔️ LearnDash

LearnDash, in my opinion, is pretty much the gold standard for serious WordPress learning management system (LMS) plugins and the recent 3.0 release has made it even better. This is a very feature-rich platform that was clearly developed by people serious about e-learning.

Pricing starts at $159 for the base version and caps out at $329 for the Pro version. 

Note: These are one-time charges, not monthly, and they're insane value for what you get. To continue to receive updates and support, an annual renewal fee is half of the initial license fee.

Once you have a license, LearnDash offers a range of integrations and add-ons – WooCommerce, bbPress, Stripe and Zapier, among others – for free.

✔️ LifterLMS

LifterLMS has the very strong selling point of being free for the basic version: you can find and install it using the usual WordPress plugin screen. This means you can easily try out the system on your WordPress site before deciding if it's right for you.

You only pay if you decide to use one of the various add-ons available for the system. These range from e-commerce to various marketing tools and integrations. These cost $99 each, or you can purchase a universal plan for $299 that includes all the standard add-ons.

✔️ LearnPress

LearnPress is the simplest and cleanest choice in the world of WordPress LMS plugins. The plugin is completely free to use, but you will likely have to pay for a theme compatible with LearnPress.

The main downside is that customer support isn't as dedicated as you might find with a premium LMS. That said, most basic LearnPress add-ons are free, and email support representatives get back to you within 24 hours.

You can also opt to pay for premium add-ons for things like certificates, co-instructor support, and WooCommerce support.

Each LearnPress course can be created with quizzes and lessons as students progress through the program.

✔️ LMS tutor

LMS tutor is one of the newest additions to the world of WordPress LMS plugins. Still, it has unique features like front-end course builder, drag-and-drop quiz builder, and full theme support from the parent company.

The basic plugin is free, while the premium plan starts at $149 for a single license on a single site. With this plan, you get access to some premium add-ons like certificates, courses, previews, Multi-Instructor, and more.

Tutor LMS also has a very secure platform, with top-tier coding and content security practices.

Tutor LMS also has a growing list of integrations with eCommerce plugins, page builder plugins, as well as other popular plugins like GamiPress, BuddyPress, etc.

🥀 The platforms to sell training videos online

To be clear, just about every platform covered on this page lets you upload videos and create video courses.

But most of them don't offer true app-based streaming of these courses to mobile devices and none, except those listed in this section, support streaming in "channels" over the top » or OTT like Apple TV, Roku and FireTV.

✔️ Uscreen

Uscreen gives you everything you need to upload, organize, tag, publish and monetize your videos and is a great option even if you're not interested in OTT distribution.

But if you want to go this route, it's a powerful option. Once your videos are uploaded and set up, you can launch your own branded OTT apps without any coding skills.

Uscreen also enables HD live streaming and provides a range of tools to help you build a community around your videos.

After a two-week free trial, Uscreen starts at $149 per month ($99 if paid annually). You have to upgrade to higher-tier plans to get the full range of features, and the company doesn't clearly state its pricing for OTT distribution on the site.

✔️ Move

If you plan to take OTT and live streaming seriously, Move is a platform you will definitely want to consider.

It really is as comprehensive as it gets – from serious tech infrastructure to host and deliver your content, to an easy-to-use interface to set up and manage your site, to monetization capabilities in various ways.

Like any good OTT platform, Muvi lets you distribute your content through apps like Apple TV, Roku, FireTV and more, but Muvi also focuses on providing features that support e-learning.

And, the platform also has strong digital rights management (DRM) capabilities to help protect your intellectual property.

You can try Muvi for free for 14 days. After that, monthly charges start at $399 per month.

This may seem expensive compared to some of the other options on this page, but it's a different kind of platform - serious infrastructure for those who are serious about the OTT opportunity.